Babysitting The Taicho
by VioTanequil
Summary: When a fight goes wrong, and something happens that should not have, the eyes and ears who have been waiting for the opportunity ready themselves to strike. They are ready. Are their enemies? A little humor, adventure and family love.
1. Prologue

"They… what?!" A horrified Ukitake Jyuushiro sat up in bed, shoving back the covers with his feet. Left hand running through his hair, he sighed softly. The conflict with Aizen was really taking its toll on the Gotei 13. Just last week, Ise-fukutaicho had finally blown up in Shunsui's face, and the latter was now enjoying some very painful quiet time in the Fourth Division medical center.

He dismissed a distraught Sentarou and an equally horrified Kiyone as he turned to get dressed. Really now, Kuchiki-taicho and Kurotsuchi-taicho? This was no good. He peered out of his window expecting to see purple smoke and a pink column. And quickly ducked his head back into said window, slamming it shut. Damn it, really. This looked serious.

Oh why oh why did he have to be in charge of the Thirteenth Division? For one, said division was next to Twelfth, and for two, Twelfth was next to Eleventh. Not a very good neighborhood to be in, as he had attempted to tell Genyuursai-sensei. But had he listened? Oh no, no. Just "Jyuushiro, your calming presence will help to…" Bah. He didn't believe a word of that.

He tightened the lock on the window, making sure that the airtight seal remained airtight, and that the metal-reinforced frames were in place. He was taking no chances. Nu uh. Not after Mayuri had accidentally blown something up too close for comfort. Sure, his place was somewhere on the lake, but no, he was not about to be a guinea pig for whatever it was that Mayuri was experimenting on this time.

He was going to be his cool, calm-headed self. He would sit down in the middle of his room, wash up, get dressed, go out and address his division, before running it smoothly (or as smoothly as he could with both Kiyone and Sentarou as his third seats) for the rest of the day. He was not about to think of the number of casualty reports he was going to have to fill up because he was next door to the crazed maniacs, whose fight was most probably going to end up in both having serious injuries thus rendering them unable to fill up forms and that Zaraki wasn't going to fill them up, so the job was going to be his. Nope, he was not going to think about it.

He was not going to think about the fact that either way, he was probably going to have to remodel half of the Thirteenth Division barracks. Again. Nope, he was not going to think about it.

Either way, this new fight looked bad, and he was definitely not going to go near there anytime soon. Gee. Both bankai had large areas of effect, Konjiki Ashisogi Jizou with its poison gas, and Senbonzakura Kageyoshi with pure pink power, and he did not fancy having his life cut even shorter than it already was. Sure, he liked his compound, but he was not about to go out there and tell them to stop.

After all, how bad could it get? It was just a friendly, or perhaps not so friendly spar, but surely, both captains would be smart enough to pick a nice wide open space to have the fight in. And really, what could go wrong?

Famous last words, anybody?


	2. Is That You?

Said nice wide open space just so happened to be where there previously had been laboratories, previously being about half an hour ago. The Twelfth Division was too busy looking for a safe air-tight space in which to tide out the battle to actually remember what had happened, or rather, what had caused the fight.

Some would say that it had been because Kuchiki-taicho had been doing the division inspecting that week, and that Eleventh had just given him a real hard time, and as such, the normally unflappable noble had been in a bad mood. The fact that Kurotsuchi-taicho had been his ordinarily uncooperative self had not helped matters much.

Some would say that it had been because Kurotsuchi-taicho had been handling a particularly expensive project which had just blown up in his face as Kuchiki-taicho walked past. Perhaps it was the reiatsu that he emitted subconsciously that had triggered the fragile equipment.

Whatever the reason, there were now two furious captains fighting it out within the Twelfth Division compound, the one place in Seireitei where there was unlikely to be any wide open spaces to fight in. Twelfth did not fight. They made things to do their fighting for them. They made up stuff, they mixed stuff with stuff, and then invented new stuff to replace the old stuff. They did not fight. There were no training grounds within the area. Those who wanted to train were transferred out within a few weeks. There was no space in Twelfth. Space was a concept reserved for the meeting tables.

And so far, as Akon who was crouching in a newly created corner in the newly created courtyard had counted, they had wrecked three power generators, gotten dangerously close to Kurotsuchi-taicho's private lab, as well as leveled the entire fourth section of the compound, and were still showing no signs of stopping.

This was no good. They were in Twelfth. All around them were chemicals, reiatsu processors, delicate equipment that if triggered wrongly, would blow up in your face. It was a miracle, really, that as of yet, nothing had blown up. As of yet, at least. A shockwave ripped through the compound as Konjiki Ashisogi Jizou reared up for another charge. He winced.

Senbonzakura Kageyoshi rose to the sky, along with its now furious wielder, not that anyone would have been able to tell by his facial expression, really. Purple fumes rose to the sky in plumes, as shinigami passing by ducked and ran faster, holding their breaths. Sharp petals of metal rushed towards Kurotsuchi-taicho, and it was not long before the shimmer of shunpo could be seen all around.

Akon winced as they clashed, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi impacting with Konjiki Ashisogi Jizou. Had it been under controlled circumstances, it would have been a figurative gold mine for him, and for the whole division to observe. But as it was, half the division was in danger of immediate death. As a matter of fact, so was half of the Eleventh Division, but the brutes didn't count, so Akon did not bother thinking about them. This would mean that there was absolutely no chance for him to analyze the fight. Oh well. Give and take. Give up the opportunity, and take the chance to keep himself alive.

Instead, he did a very un-scientific thing. He closed his eyes, curled back into a ball, and prayed that it would end without any shinigami dying, or more importantly, without him dying. He did not want to die anytime soon.

And it sort of worked, because after the incredibly loud explosion, he would put it at about 180 decibels, and the earth-shaking tremor, about a 4.3 on the Richter scale, everything was quiet. No clashing of metal, no cackling, nothing. No dangerously high reiatsu, no loud exclamations, no shimmering of shunpo. Nothing. Something was wrong. He tentatively sniffed at the air. Funny. The poison seemed to be gone.

Opening his eyes, he fanned at the smoke around his face, a horrible feeling settling in his gut. Smoke was not a good thing. And oh crap. They had been fighting next to lab fourteen. Oh no. Not lab fourteen. Wasn't lab fourteen where Kurotsuchi-taicho kept all his more precious, more delicate, and half a million times more dangerous experimental results, designs and liquids? No, no, no, no, no. This was bad. Really bad. Getting up from his curled position at the newly-created corner, Akon scowled slightly as he tried to see into the smoke.

It was useless. There was nothing he could see. There was probably nothing to see as well. He took in a deep breath.

"Kurotsuchi-taicho! Kurotsuchi-taicho! Is there a need to call in the Fourth Division?"

He winced and prepared to run for his life. There was no response.

"Kurotsuchi-taicho! Kuchiki-taicho!"

He cringed, awaiting a sound scolding from Kurotsuchi-taicho. Still no response. He was getting increasingly worried. This was not good, not good at all. A light purple liquid oozed towards his foot, and instinctively, he stepped back, bending down to take a closer look.

Bloody hell no. No way. Oh God. Please. No. He whimpered softly, pulling the finger which had nearly touched it back. He rose from the floor, following the trail of purple liquid with his eyes, or at least as much as he could see amongst the smoke. His eyes caught the telltale white cloth and black diamonds. Crap.

He took a tentative step forward, his mind whirling with the possibilities. Being relatively high up in command, he was privy to most of the captain's new projects. The reiatsu-sucking liquid was something that Kurotsuchi-taicho had wanted to try for some time now, after hearing that the previous Twelfth Division taicho had come up with a reiatsu-sucking gigai, and that Kenpachi was wearing a reiatsu-sucking device.

Well, he couldn't really blame the man. Kurotsuchi-taicho was a liquid specialist. He himself was mostly liquid, so it made sense that the new thing he had invented would start from being a liquid, no? Which brought him back to the topic at hand. The fact that there was a large amount of the so-far-not-fully-tested liquid on the floor. They knew that this stuff had nasty side effects, which was why it had not, as of yet, been announced to the rest of the Division. The side effects were not known to him, only to Kurotsuchi-taicho and fukutaicho.

As such, Akon didn't want to know whose haori that was, really. He really did not want to know. He did not want to figure out if he was about to die via poison or via sharp metal petals. He really did not want to know. But you know, curiosity killed the cat. He kept on walking towards the haori, even though he really did not want to find out who that was, in a way, he needed to figure it out.

Skillfully dodging the slowly oozing liquid, he moved towards the haori, closing his eyes and trying his best not to look. Too bad. In for a penny, in for a pound. His eyelids parted slightly, as his heart thumped in his chest. He forced himself to look. And bit back a yell of shock.

"Kuchiki-taicho?! Is that you?"

A pair of confused grey eyes stared back at him.

"Pardon?"


	3. Piggy Back

Anything. Anything. Anything but this. Akon winced, closing his eyes, squeezing them shut in an attempt to rid the image from his mind. But being the scientific expert that he was, he knew that it was futile. For one, images were stored in the brain, and squeezing the eyes did no good. Secondly, he was just being stupid. But he still did not want to open his eyes anyway. This was horrible. Terrible. Simply disastrous.

A gentle tug on his lab coat brought him back to reality. Taking in a deep shuddering breath, he looked in that direction.

"Excuse me, sir, were you looking for my father?"

A pair of calm grey eyes stared back at him. A pair of very familiar but scary calm grey eyes. Familiar because there was not a shinigami in Seireitei that did not know of the man. Scary because it was not Kuchiki-taicho. It was what seemed to be a miniature version of the man. A child.

A child sitting in a conspicuously dry spot in the middle of what seemed to be a light purple lake, dressed in too large clothes and a too large haori. A long scarf was curled up on the floor next to him, and fragments of what seemed to be porcelain were scattered just inches away from the child's left hand. Crap.

This was terrible. Horrible. No good at all. Akon took in another deep breath, biting back a scream of "Why me?!", before turning back to the kid. Where was Kurotsuchi-taicho when you needed him?

Akon answered his own question. Kurotsuchi-taicho was probably passed out somewhere in the smoke, either that or too distraught at the destruction, or near destruction of his most precious laboratory. Kurotsuchi-taicho might have been blown to bits, but knowing him, the bits would have formed into the same liquid, and the taicho would probably be halfway back to his private rooms by now. And Kurotsuchi-fukutaicho? Nah. The poor thing was too afraid of her father to do anything. Oh dear.

"Y-Y-Your father?"

"You were looking for Kuchiki-taicho, right? Kuchiki-taicho is my father." A small smile greeted Akon, and the startled scientist blinked as he took a step back.

Right then. The reiatsu sucking liquid had either completely vaporized Kuchiki-taicho and plopped another person in his place, or it had done something to Kuchiki-taicho which defied logical reasoning. (There was probably a logical reason to what had just happened, but really, Akon was not in a sound state of mind at the moment, and he could not be blamed.)

Taking in what seemed to be the millionth deep breath but was probably just his third, or fourth, or fifth, Akon calmed himself down, running through the possible explanations for Kuchiki-taicho's current condition. The most probably one was that no, this was not a freak creation, but was actually the same scary shinigami captain, just minus quite a few years and apparently, the same amount of memories.

He did not want to think of the other possibilities. Now, to test his hypothesis. Coughing politely as he had seen some noble do, he bent down slightly, so that he would not tower over the kid. Not that Akon was tall, but kids were short, really, and this one was no exception.

"Pardon me, it is incredibly rude of me not to introduce myself first. I am Akon."

He winced inwardly, praying that this would work. From what he had heard, Kuchiki-taicho was good at playing word games, part of the noble thing, he supposed, and that hopefully, this kid had not forgotten his manners. It would be the polite thing to return a greeting and an introduction with at least an introduction in reply.

"Kuchiki Byakuya."

Akon stumbled backwards, clutching around him for support. Sadly, there was nothing in the immediate vicinity, and he was forced to use his own legs to support himself. He knew he should have gone to another division, like maybe Tenth, or Thirteenth, and stayed there instead of going into science. But noo, nothing could possibly happen, eh? Fat chance.

"Oh." Was all he managed, blinking stupidly at the kid. What was he going to do now? What was he going to do? He had no experience with dealing with children. What if Kuchiki-taicho fell down and hit his head on the floor for no particular reason like he had seen kids in Rukongai do? What if Kuchiki-taicho fell ill like Ukita…

That was it! Ukitake-taicho! Ukitake-taicho knew everything that had to do with interpersonal relations, and as everybody knew, was absolutely fantastic when dealing with people. And since Kuchiki-taicho, even though he seemed very… different, was still a person, then it would mean that he would know exactly what to do. Akon grinned. It looked like he still had his wits about him.

Spinning up a quick lie, he turned to speak to the rather bored-looking child who was staring back at him unabashedly. Smiling sheepishly and stretching out a hand, he began.

"Hey, I need to run a little errand for taicho. He needs me to collect a stack of papers for him from Ukitake-taicho. Do you want to come along? I heard that Ukitake-taicho has the best sweets."

Akon was not expecting Kuchiki-taicho, or whatever it was that the child was to nod and say yes. In fact, he had been mentally preparing himself for a debate on the beneficial effects of sweets to the young body, since this was Kuchiki-taicho, and seriously, it was highly unlikely that he would be able to get away with such a flimsy excuse.

But get away with the excuse he did, for the kid slid a little hand into his outstretched one and waited expectantly to be led towards Ukitake-taicho's office. Akon was confused. Was there a personality modifying portion in that reiatsu-sucking liquid? He very much doubted it, but really, what else could explain this sudden change in behavior? ("Maybe it's because the kid doesn't seem to remember anything about who he is?" replied his brain snarkily. "Sheesh, Akon.")

"Uhm. Right. To Ukitake-taicho's, eh?" Akon muttered, though whether he was doing this to make the kid feel better or to reassure himself he was not so sure. Thank goodness the explosion had kept most of the others away, and thank goodness one more time that Thirteenth was next to Twelfth, and that Ukitake-taicho just so conveniently was captain of the Thirteenth Division.

Halfway into the trek, or more like ten steps, really, Akon had given up on allowing Kuchiki-taicho to walk because his clothes were oversized and it was a take one step and trip situation. Instead, he allowed the kid to piggy back on his back. Wrapping Kuchiki-taicho in the haori and tying it awkwardly so that it stayed on and so that the large number six on it was not visible, Akon squatted down to allow Kuchiki-taicho to cling rather awkwardly to him, a pair of thin arms over his shoulder.

It was rather humiliating, but the little giggles of happiness every time he took a step and involuntarily bounced up and down somehow made him feel better. Of course, there was the fact that no one was along the same road due to the poisonous fumes which had been in the area just a few moments ago.

By the time they reached the entrance to Thirteenth, Akon was thoroughly convinced that Kuchiki-taicho made a rather cute kid, but he was thoroughly unsuited to any form of physical exertion, seeing as he could already feel his trapezius muscles aching. Knocking on the door, he entered the compound, coming face to face with Ukitake-taicho's two competitive third-seats.

Not wanting to stay in their company for any longer than needed, he told them that he needed to see Ukitake-taicho, and that this was important. Very important. He also decided to slip in the little information that the battle had ceased. From his past experience and dealings with Ukitake-taicho (well, who do you think supplied him with the airtight windows and metal shields?), he could tell that the taicho did not like to take unnecessary risks, and that was probably why one of the most powerful captains in the Gotei Thirteen had not stepped forward to intervene. Kotetsu and Kotsubaki were out of the room before he could say 'Kuchiki'.

Kuchiki-taicho in the meantime had slipped his hand out of Akon's and was happily examining the room, the few paintings of rivers, lakes and seas on the walls, as well as the furniture. Akon hoped that he would not break anything. His fragile heart (Akon's fragile heart), was not going to be able to stand another shock. Thankfully, Kuchiki-taicho seemed to be a very well-behaved child.

It was barely two minutes later that he and his temporary charge were allowed in to see Ukitake-taicho. He took in a deep breath before moving over and picking Kuchiki-taicho up by the arms, swinging the happily giggling boy over to sit on his shoulders. To their credit, neither Kotetsu nor Kotsubaki said a word.

Walking down the corridor, Akon wondered how he was going to explain this all to Ukitake-taicho. Of course, he was kind of reluctant to leave Kuchiki-taicho in the hands of others (even though he himself had no idea how to properly deal with kids), but oh well. And to tell the truth, Akon was rather worried about how Ukitake-taicho might react, but since he was here outside the room, it was a little too late to worry, no? (He hoped that Ukitake-taicho would not faint. After all, this was going to be quite a shock.)

He took in yet another deep breath, eased open the sliding shoji door, ducked his head low so that Kuchiki-taicho's head would not hit the ceiling (cue more giggling), and entered the room.


	4. Candy Man

Ukitake was confused, really. Why would Akon want to see him? The yearly checks of the structures of Thirteenth's compound had been conducted a month earlier. Akon had no reason to be here. Besides, Mayuri was oddly protective, over-protective one would say, off his subordinates. Something about trade-secrets or whatever.

And who was the kid that Akon had with him? Then again, Ukitake was not exactly sure whether there really was a kid. Knowing Sentarou and Kiyone, they did have a tendency to exaggerate. But the presence of a kid, that was a scary thought. Because if somehow, that scientist guy had come across a kid, here Ukitake shuddered, then something had to be kind of wrong. He had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling.

Said bad feeling was only further heightened when he sensed a semi-familiar reiatsu outside the door. Well, to tell the truth, it could be Akon, but Ukitake was not really familiar with the guy, outside of the occasional inter-divisional business. As such, it could not possibly be Akon. Damn.

Hang on. The reiatsu had a familiar feel to it. A very familiar feel to it. But still, he couldn't really place it. Hm… This was a rare thing. Very often, Ukitake had very good judgment. Identifying reiatsu was usually as easy as breathing for him. Well, excluding the times when he did have a difficult time breathing due to his condition, but those times did not really count. A slight frown found its way to his face.

"Come in." His voice rang out, and sure enough, the shoji door slid open. Sighing slightly, he turned away from the window to the door. His jaw dropped.

Akon straightened up and swung the giggling boy off his shoulders, placing him on his feet on the floor. Both shuffled nervously under the shocked yet intense gaze of Ukitake-taicho. Now, why did Akon have a feeling that said taicho knew exactly who the kid was? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Ukitake taicho was probably old enough to have met the kid when he had been a kid?

Akon's guess was pretty far off. Ukitake had not met Kuchiki Byakuya when he had been little, had had no further contact than when he had visited the man's father when said father had still been a captain. But still, the grey eyes, sharp features and black hair were unmistakably Kuchiki in nature. There was no mistaking the reiatsu either. This was definitely Kuchiki Byakuya.

But dear lord! What on earth had happened to him? For one, Kuchiki Byakuya was about the same height as him on a normal day, and by the gods, he did not smile. Nope, Kuchiki Byakuya did not smile. Ukitake took a closer look at the kid. Hang on… What was the little tyke wearing? Was that… Oh yes. It was. It was the captain's haori. Goodness gracious. Now, exactly what had happened? What in the heck was going on? And what on earth had Mayuri done to him? He said that aloud. Rather loudly.

Or maybe he should not have done that. Little Bya-kun, or at least that's what Ukitake saw in front of him, shrank back slightly in fear, casting a fearful glance down at himself. He immediately softened, bending down to Bya-kun's level. Grinning, he teased, in a tone which was unmistakably, well, teasing.

"Ne, I don't think I see anyone with the name of Mayuri in this room." He paused faux-thoughtfully, every movement exaggerated. He cast his glance around the room, taking in every single detail which he already knew. (Duh. It was his room.) "Do you, Bya-kun?"

The kid stared back at him with widened eyes, before shaking his head. Ukitake beamed. "Then why the unhappy face?" The kid giggled, and Ukitake's smile only grew bigger. Akon wondered how the man managed it. It was probably some taicho thing though, to be able to do stuff that ordinary shinigami were unable to.

"Goody then." The captain reached into those all encompassing sleeves, and pulled out a box of candy. Ripping open the wrapping, he held out a piece of the candy. "Candy, Bya-kun?" Akon was a little worried when Bya-kun (Oh dear god… When had he started thinking of the intimidating taicho as Bya-kun? Akon's brain winced. Yes, that was possible.) shook his head, eyes drooping like a puppy.

"Hm? You don't eat candy?" Ukitake blinked, before settling with mock-spluttering. "B-b-but… It's candy!" Here he waved the piece of candy around in the air. "Candy is the foundation upon which civilization is constructed! It is the one essential thing in every shinigami's life! Don't you want to be a shinigami, Bya-kun?"

Okay. That was definitely a lie. Akon knew that. But it seemed… His head turned from Ukitake-taicho to Bya-kun. The kid merely looked back at Ukitake-taicho with a semi-mournful look in his eyes.

"I'm not allowed to eat candy. Otou-sama will be angry if I do." He chewed his lip nervously, determinedly not looking at the box of candy or the piece of candy just inches from his nose.

"But your otou-sama isn't here, is he?" Ukitake made another show of looking around the room. The things he did for others, really. (Of course, he was not about to admit that it was ingrained in his personality to be nice to people. And it helped that little Bya-kun was adorable. Very adorable, especially when compared to his adult form.) Seeing as Bya-kun did not seem to believe him, he nodded as convincingly as he could. Gesturing around him, he continued. "See? Your otou-sama isn't here. He won't know. Besides, a little candy is good for you. It makes you happy."

"Otou-sama knows everything." He shot back indignantly, eyes flashing and daring Ukitake to say otherwise. Gee. Ukitake would have burst out laughing at the extremely cute image of Kuchiki Byakuya staring indignantly back at him. As it was, he contented himself with a slight smile.

"Well then, we can say it's Ukitake-taicho's fault then." Ukitake pointed to himself as he leant forward, taking the opportunity now that Bya-kun's mouth was slightly open in surprise. Quick fingers pushed the candy into said mouth, and a hand shut his jaw gently. "There. Wasn't too difficult, no?" He beamed and popped an identical candy into his mouth. These were his favorites, melting in the mouth to release flavors depending on what type of candy it was.

Ooh. Blueberry. Byakuya's face dissolved into a happy grin as he sucked on the candy. It wouldn't be too bad if otou-san knew about it. This captain was a nice person. He clambered awkwardly onto the chabudai, barely missing upturning the dish of sweets, quickly yanked out of reach, before hopping happily towards Ukitake, hugging the taicho around the waist.

When he recovered from the shock that he had just 'force-fed' Kuchiki Byakuya some sweets, and said person was now hugging him around the waist, Ukitake beamed at the happy little kid. Gee. Now, why couldn't every day be like that? Ruffling the now messy black hair, Ukitake gently pried the limpet-like former taicho off him, placing him on the chabudai itself, and looking him up and down with a critical eye.

"We're going to need to get some new clothes for you, Bya-kun." Yup. There was no way he could let the kid go out there awkwardly wrapped up like a dumpling in a captain's haori. For one, the haori was too big for him. Secondly, he looked like some death row prisoner, being wrapped in all white. (The designs on the hem, as well as the large character on the back (or where the back normally was) were not visible.) This would not do.

Byakuya blinked back at the friendly person. "New clothes? What will otou-sama say when I…" He looked down at himself. "Oh." He paused, confused, index finger creeping to his lower lip as he thought. "Do you think we can find the clothes I was wearing before this, Ukitake-sama? I think otou-sama will be angry if I lost the clothes. He says that they are expensive and should not be dirtied or lost but that's very difficult to do."

"Hm… I think that might be a little difficult, ne, Bya-kun, since we don't really know where you were before this." He surreptiously signaled to Akon to hide behind a vase. Why he did that, Akon was not sure, but he ducked and hid anyway. Time to leave the room. Kurotsuchi-taicho was probably looking for him. And besides, it was not as if Bya-kun was going to disappear soon, so there would be other times to see the kid. He slowly crept away.

"Eh? Where did Akon-san go? Oh dear then. I guess we can just blame the losing of the clothes on me then. I think that'll be fine. And don't call me Ukitake-sama, Bya-kun. Just Ukitake-san will do." He winked, both at Byakuya and the leaving Akon, who gave a slight wave back.

Ukitake gave Byakuya a moment or two to ponder about it, and was pleased when the small smile reappeared on his face, accompanied by a quick nod. "Okay then. We'll be off, no?" He reached over and picked the grinning kid up, swinging him onto his shoulders, sliding the shoji door open and leaving the room. Every bounce in his step brought giggles, and Ukitake decided that paperwork could wait for next day.

Besides, the looks on Kiyone and Sentarou's faces were absolutely priceless.

--

I apologize for the delay in the chapters. RL has been busy, and will continue to be busy for the next month or so. I will try to update as often as I can, but there can be no guarantees. Do bear with me in the meantime.

Cheers,  
Tanequil


	5. Ink Smudges

"Hold on tight, kiddo!" There were a few giggles. "Oi, oi. If you fall off, I'm not responsible, okay?" More giggles and a familiar chuckle. Shunsui shifted on the couch slightly, mumbling something rather inaudible as he tugged his hat further down in a bid to reduce the volume. It only got louder, and he sighed, shifting his hat a little more, and turning around to bury his face in the cushions, ignoring the fact that had he shifted just a little to the left, he would have slipped right off the couch.

The sounds seemed to be entering the compound. Damn acoustics. Hang on… was that who he thought it was? Jyuushiro? What was Jyuu doing here at this time of the day? Was that fight between Kuchiki and Kurotsuchi over already? Or else, what was so important that he had braved the fight to come and visit him? Whatever it was, it had better be important. He liked his sleep. Refusing to open his eyes, he merely shifted a little more. And promptly fell off the couch. He blinked as his butt contacted with the floor unceremoniously.

He could almost feel Nanao-chan's eyebrows raised in amusement as she stared at his back. "Is there a problem, Kyouraku-taicho?"

"Yare, yare, Nanao-chan… What is Jyuu doing here at this time of the day? Doesn't he know that noontime is naptime?"

"I would suggest you question Ukitake-taicho, sir. He most probably has a logical reason for this." He heard the shuffling of papers. An indignant tone entered her voice as she continued. "In addition, sir, noontime is _not_ naptime."

"My Nanao-chan is so mean to me." A sniff, and then the soft swish of brush on paper was heard once more. He sighed melodramatically. "I guess I will have to go ask the man himself then." Pushing himself off the floor quicker than one would expect, (Nanao still had no idea how he did that) he was out the door in a flash of pink haori and sake.

"Jyuu-chan! What brings you here at this time of the da…" Shunsui stood at the doorway, stock still, haori still flapping gently in the breeze. He blinked, but did not say anything otherwise.

Nanao's eyebrows shot up. It was extremely difficult to render Kyouraku-taicho speechless. It was even more difficult to stop the man from moving. Making him stunned, too stunned to speak or do anything, something must be wrong.

"Taicho?" There was no response. She frowned slightly, sighing and placed the brush down next to the paper. Gently pushing the chair back and rising from her desk, she moved over behind him. And stopped, stunned.

Shunsui's jaw dropped. He stared at the sight in front of him. Jyuushiro with a kid on his shoulders? Who the heck was that? What the heck had happened? What… And… oh… my… god. The reiatsu was unmistakably unmistakable. He knew immediately who that was. When the kid turned in his direction after whispering something into Jyuu's ear which had the both of them cracked up laughing, he had to pinch himself to make sure that he wasn't dreaming, that he wasn't hallucinating, and that this was not just some sake-induced image. It wasn't.

He would recognize that face anywhere. Yes, he would recognize that face anywhere. That was… holy crap. He blinked as the kid waved happily at him. Too stunned to move, he merely stared as the two of them came up to him. "J-J-Jyuu?"

Ukitake snorted, laughing. He could feel the slight shaking of Bya-kun's body as giggles erupted from somewhere above his head. "Good morning, or should I say, afternoon, Shunsui." A cheeky grin found its way to his face, and had he noticed, or rather, had he been able to see, a slightly smaller one formed on his little charge's face.

"I'm Kuchiki Byakuya. Pleased to meet you, Kyouraku-san." Shunsui blinked and closed his gaping mouth. What in heck had Jyuushiro done to Kuchiki? What was going on? Vaguely remembering his manners, he swept into a slight bow.

"Pleased to meet you too, Bya-kun." A shining smile met his eyes, and Shunsui started in shock. Holy crap. Was this Block-Of-Ice-Byakuya? It sure did not seem like it. For one, he himself was older than Kuchiki, and in all the years where he had seen the man, on not more than two occasions had he smiled. Those two occasions both had sake involved. Now, what in the heck had gone on? He stared at Jyuushiro, eyes conveying his confusion.

A slight upturn of his lips was all Shunsui needed to see. Something was going on, or rather, something had happened, and he was definitely going to get it out of Jyuu. Now… he just needed to get the kid out of the way for a moment or two. He had this feeling that Bya-kun was better off not knowing. Pondering how to solve the problem, he recovered slightly.

"Ah, Jyuu, Bya-kun. Do come in."

He turned around, nearly knocking over a stunned Nanao-chan. "Ah! Nanao-chan! Just the person I want to see. Do you think you could help Jyuu and I look after Bya-kun for the time being?"

Without waiting for a reply, he gestured to her. "Bya-kun, this is my Nanao-chan. Nanao-chan, Bya-kun." He smirked slightly, hoping that due to the shock, she would not manage to shoot back at him like she normally did.

"I'm not _your_ Nanao-_chan_, Kyouraku-taicho." She scowled at him, and there were titters in the background, as well as a barely concealed snigger, both of which she was certain had originated from the white-haired taicho. She turned to scowl at Ukitake-taicho, and blinked as a pair of curious grey eyes stared back at her, about a head or so higher than she was used to.

"Ise Nanao, Kuchiki-san." Immediately the kid's eyes darted to the sides as he almost fell off Ukitake-taicho's shoulder, remaining there only because of his tightened grip on the long strands of white hair and the quick grasp of his ankles. She noticed that his face had paled, and he looked frightened.

"Ne, Bya-kun." Ukitake-taicho's soothing voice oozed out. "Ise-san was referring to you. Your Otou-sama is not here." The kid obviously did not believe him. Ukitake nodded solemnly, unconsciously shifting to make sure he did not fall off.

"But I'm not old enough! And they call Otou-sama 'Kuchiki-san'. Are you sure he isn't here, Ukitake-san? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Pinky swear?" Nanao blinked. Had Kuchiki Byakuya just said "Pinky swear"? Oh gods. What was the world coming to? She stared in surprise as Ukitake extended a long pinky, curling it around Kuchiki-taicho's.

"There. Pinky swear. Now, Bya-kun, I think you've given Ise-san quite a fright. How about you sit here with her for a while, eh? Kyouraku-san and I have some things to do. Then when we're ready, we can go and get what we came here for, eh?" A giggle met his statement, and Nanao just stared as Ukitake-taicho reached up and swung Kuchiki-taicho off his shoulders. Note to self, need to start viewing Kuchiki-taicho as Bya-kun.

She was surprised when a small hand reached up to grasp her fingers, as the two taichos swept out of the room and into an adjoining one. "Ise-san?" A chipper voice rang out. "Is there anything to do here?" She looked down to meet shiningly happy grey eyes, the same sharp features that Kuchiki Byakuya was famous for, as well as an uncharacteristically present grin.

"I think we can…" She looked around the office. There had to be something they could do. She didn't really know how to play with kids, seeing as she had not been one in Soul Society, and had not interacted much with them. She did have experience disciplining them, seeing as Kyouraku-taicho was practically a kid, but playing? Nah.

"Ise-san, Ise-san! What's this?" She looked up from her short reverie to see Bya-kun pointing to one of Shunsui's half drunken sake bottles. She watched in horror as he bent down and sniffed it. Oh no. If he took a sip from that thing, he probably would be out like a light, and she would not be able to explain it to both the taichos in the next room. He pulled back abruptly. She sighed in relief. "Smells bad." He made a face before moving on to a stack of blank papers. "Ooh! Ise-san! Can we draw?" He beamed at her as she nodded.

Yanking a sheet towards him, he tried to clamber into the too high chair that she or the taicho normally used at the desk. To no avail. Pouting slightly, he attempted it again, quite surprised when a pair of gentle hands lifted him up and placed him in the seat. Staring up into a surprised Nanao's face, he beamed once more. "Arigato, Ise-san." He pushed the completed papers neatly away and yanked the inkwell towards him. He then picked up a brush and looked expectantly at Nanao.

She was not good at this. She had no idea what she was supposed to do next. "Ise-san? Are you going to draw as well?" His eyes shone in anticipation. There was no way she was able to resist that kind of look. Besides, it was drawing. What could go wrong?

"Well, I suppose there's no harm in trying." He beamed as he passed her a blank piece of paper and a brush. Dipping his in ink, he began printing neat lines onto the paper, as well as squiggles which Nanao could not quite decipher. "See, Nanao-san. That's me, and that's Ukitake-san." He pointed towards a small figure holding the hand of a bigger figure. "And there's Akon-san." There was a figure in a lab coat. "And then Kyouraku-san and you, Ise-san." She blushed slightly as there were two figures holding hands, one unmistakably female as seen by the triangular shape, wearing glasses, and a taller one, wearing a large splotch.

"Why are Kyouraku-san and I holding hands, Bya-kun?"

"You mean you don't like it?" He reached his brush over the sheet of paper, dripping drops of ink onto it unknowingly. "I'll change it then." As he was about to squish out the black lines, Nanao reached out to gently take his tiny hand in hers.

"I…I think it is fine." A happy smile met her, as he continued drawing cute black trees, and black grass, a black circle and puffy clouds, each black splotch caused by the dripping black ink artfully, or as artfully as he could manage, worked into the picture. She watched him, composing herself once more. "Do you get to draw at home, Bya-kun?"

Not looking up from the drawing, he shook his head. "Why not?" She could understand why Zaraki-taicho would not allow Yachiru to draw, seeing as that would be the death of the buildings, but Bya-kun was so well-behaved.

"Otou-sama doesn't like it." He returned to his drawing, but the brush stopped suddenly, as his head jerked up, slightly disappointed eyes meeting hers. "Do you mind me drawing, Ise-san? I'll stop if you don't like it." He nodded solemnly.

"Oh, no, no, no. Go on. I like watching you draw."

"Really?" A pause as he looked at her, catching the nod. A few papers were discarded before he frowned and looked up at her once more, scratching at his temples with an ink-splotched hand, unknowingly spreading some of the black substance onto them.

"Ise-san?"

"Hm?"

"Why aren't you drawing?" His head was cocked to the side in confusion as he espied her blissfully blank piece of paper.

"Well, I can't draw, really."

"But drawing is easy! See, you pick up the brush, and just move it around. Okaa-san says that it doesn't have to look good, as long as you like it." A nod.

Nanao was speechless. More or less speechless, at any rate. So speechless that she allowed a brush to be pushed into her hand, a rigid board placed on her lap so as not to stain her clothing, and a piece of paper slipped onto the board.

"See, all ready." She blinked at the expectant kid. Well, Kuchiki-taicho was no pushover when he had been young, this much she was sure of. "All you have to do is draw." There was a short pause as he turned back once more to his own work.

"Can we draw on the floor, Ise-san?" Her eyebrows shot right up in surprise at his sudden question. The floor?

"On the floor?"

"Well, not on the floor, but can we sit on the floor and draw? The table is too high for me." Oh. So that would explain why every stick figure seemed a little slanted. Phew. Here she had thought that Bya-kun was every bit as uncontrollable as Kusajishi-fukutaicho. This was a relief.

"Sure."

He beamed and flopped down on his belly on the floor, a wooden sketch board between his paper and the floor. Nanao sat next to him, an identical board on her lap. An inkwell sat between the two of them, and he giggled every time their brushes both tried to dip in the ink at the same time.

After a while, there were smudges of ink all over his hands, some on the white captain's haori that he was wrapped in. Not that Nanao knew that it was a haori or a captain's haori, for that matter. She was having too much fun watching him, drawing her own squiggles on the paper and playing "guess the drawing".

And such was the scene that Shunsui and Jyuushiro walked into, about half an hour later. Byakuya was sprawled out on his stomach on the floor, staring intently at a piece of paper in front of him. Nanao was sitting next to him, doodling on another piece of paper. Both had ink smudges on their clothes, and in Byakuya's case, even a few on his face.

Shunsui blinked.


	6. Kyouraku Taicho and I

"And so, Shun, that's exactly why I need your help. Bya-kun needs clothing, and as you keep reminding me, I 'don't get out nearly enough'. I would have no idea where to purchase such clothing from. Personally, I don't want to go running around the whole of Rukongai looking for children's clothes. Which is where you come in."

Ukitake grinned at Shunsui's appalled look. The look of complete and utter shock was rather amusing. The Eighth Division Captain spluttered. He took in a deep breath, warm brown eyes meeting sparkling grey ones.

"So basically, what you are telling me is that there was an accident, and that Kuchiki all of a sudden was rendered a kid. And that you haven't brought him to the Fourth Division for treatment yet. He doesn't remember a thing, and you want me to drag the kid around to Rukongai to buy clothes."

"Yup. Oh. And speaking of which, you can bring him to Unohana-sempai after that, since you're so concerned about his health."

"You want me to drag Kuchiki Byakuya around to buy clothes. From Rukongai. And then bring him for a health checkup."

"Well, he does need new clothes. Haven't you seen what he's dressed in, Shun? That's the Sixth Division Captain's haori. And not only you. I think it would be a good idea for Ise-san to accompany the two of you. Someone needs to keep you in line. Oh, and I'll meet you at Fourth. I've got a checkup due there later this afternoon as well."

"Clothes? Nanao-chan? Health-checkup? But I'm not his dad, Jyuu!" He managed a strangled gasp. Ukitake beamed, and his Shunsui's narrowed. "You know, Jyuu, sometimes I wonder if you're really as innocent as you seem like. I have this very vague feeling telling me that you are up to something."

"Me? Nonsense, Shun. How could you possibly think that way? Besides, I need to get back to the office. Goodness knows what Kiyone and Sentarou have done to the structure. And don't forget who volunteered Thirteenth to be in charge of the End of Year Party? Hm? Does that person sound familiar?"

Ukitake leant forward, eyes widened in an expression of innocence in accordance with the first part of the short speech, before narrowing as he mock-glared at Shunsui. The smirk that was threatening to come out was ruthlessly suppressed. So far, his plan was going rather well, and Bya-kun was a rather helpful partner.

Shunsui scowled. "Fine." He had been the one to jubilantly nominate Jyuu as planner after all. It was his fault. Damn. He hated things that came back to bite him in the butt.

A chuckle met his ears. "I knew you would agree. And don't worry, Shun. He'll grow on you in no time."

"Somehow, I doubt it. Kuchiki doesn't like me."

"We'll see. We'll see." He grinned at Shunsui, and the latter felt slightly intimidated. It was an ability of nice people, he decided. Unohana-sempai could pull off that friendly yet eerie smile very well, and Jyuu was getting close to masterfully inserting the intimidating factor into his mannerisms. Eep.

Jyuushiro's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hm… I dare say that we've left the two of them alone for a little too long, no? We should go check on Bya-kun and Ise-san."

Ukitake slid open the shoji door, gesturing for Shunsui to leave the room first. As he did, he hid a wide grin behind a white sleeve. He had no idea what they were doing, but he had a good feeling about this. A real good feeling. Besides, Bya-kun was already a master of manipulation at his young age. All kids were, really. It just took a little prompting.

He nearly bumped into Shunsui, who was currently standing still in the doorway for the second time that day. Granted, this was a different doorway, but it was still highly amusing. Peering over his shoulder, he bit back a chuckle at the scene presented in front of him. It would not do to alert the occupants of the room to their presence.

Nanao was sitting next to Bya-kun who was sprawled belly down on the floor, and both of them were laughing uproariously at a doodle that she had just drawn. It was one of Kyouraku-taicho rolling off the couch. A grin came to her face as she watched Bya-kun giggle madly. Bending her head back down to her own piece of paper, she was oblivious to the two taichos in the doorway.

There was a flick of a brush and a splatter of ink over some of Nanao's hair. And distinctively Kuchiki giggle. She looked up slowly, preparing to level a death glare at Bya-kun, but was met with another flick of his brush, as well as a huge toothy grin, a finger pointed in her direction, and the little Kuchiki rolling on the floor, laughing and clutching his stomach.

"Oh no, you don't!" An identical smile came to her face as she got up from her spot on the floor, dipping her brush in ink and advancing on the giggling kid.

"Eee! Nanao-san!" He scrambled to his feet, ducking between the legs of the table and weaving below the chair clumsily due to what he was garbed in, dashing around the room, her in close pursuit as she flicked the brush and ink at him, all the while giggling madly.

She vaguely noticed that ink spots were appearing on the floor and the cabinets, but quickly figured that Kyouraku-taicho could do something useful for once and clean that off. Besides, this ink was not waterproof. This was strangely fun. (Of course, if she was asked about it later by anyone, she probably would not admit it.)

While running, the devious little kid winked at Ukitake. Had he not been looking out for it, he would have missed it. (Shunsui missed it.) As such, Ukitake nudged his way past the shocked Shunsui, standing in front of him. Just in time for Bya-kun to come barreling his way. Swooping down and picking him up so that he would not collide with Shunsui (or trip on his own), Ukitake whisked Bya-kun away, and stepped neatly to the side. Perfect.

Byakuya beamed just as Nanao came around the corner. Running too fast to stop, she crashed unceremoniously into the stunned Eighth Division Captain. The two planners high-fived, before Ukitake placed the little one back on the floor. Thankfully, both targets were too stunned to hear anything.

Quickly clambering off her taicho, Nanao winced, dusting her uniform down. Byakuya tugged at the hem of her hakama nervously. "You okay, Nanao-san? I'm sorry I flicked ink at you and caused you to crash into Kyouraku-san."

To the casual observer, it would seem that Byakuya was apologizing for one incident, but to Ukitake, he could tell that the scheming little monster was actually apologizing for the two incidents, both of which he had deliberately caused.

Of course, Nanao could not tell. The slightly mournful look coupled with the other small hand scratching nervously at his head served to further distract her. She just couldn't say no to that kind of face.

"It's okay, really. You don't have to worry about it. I'm fine." Standing behind Nanao, Ukitake gaped. Bya-kun was a really good actor. Either that or he had some serious mood swings. The first option was the more likely one. Reaching out a hand to yank the stunned Shunsui to his feet, he patted him gently, before speaking.

"I'll be off now, Kyouraku! Have a good time!"

He left two stunned and one surprised soul behind as he made his way back to Thirteenth, disappearing in a shimmer of shunpo. Shunsui swore he heard a chuckle in the distance. Gee. Jyuu really was too scheming for his own good.

"Where are we going, Kyouraku-san?" A small voice piped up as a small hand tugged at the hem of his pink haori. He stared back into curious grey eyes. Shunsui still found it difficult to believe that this was the same rule-abiding, stick-up-his-ass Kuchiki Byakuya, but he supposed that as a kid, Stick-Up-The-Ass would have been slightly nicer, so perhaps it wasn't that much of a deviation.

"It's Shunsui-san or Shunsui, ya, kiddo? Don't call me Kyouraku-san. Makes me feel old, okay?" The kid nodded, grinning. "Okay, Shunsui-san. Where are we going?" He cocked his head to the side, an index finger going to his lower lip thoughtfully.

"We're going to get you some new clothes, Bya-bo. I know this place where they take your measurements and then you get to go play in the river outside while they do up the clothes." There was a giggle as the kid waved his hands about, seemingly gesturing for something. Shunsui had no idea what he wanted. The kid waved his hands and then tugged on the hem of his pink haori. Shunsui still had no idea what he wanted.

"I think he wants to be carried, taicho." Honestly. Did he have no clue at all as to how to deal with kids? Nanao sighed softly. And to think he behaved like one nearly all the time.

Shunsui on the other hand, was slightly amused. "Then why didn't you say so earlier, eh Bya-bo? Could have saved me some face in front of my Nanao-chan, you know?" An impossibly large grin bordering on a smirk appeared on the little face. Sighing melodramatically and sweeping his hat off his head, Shunsui swung the now giggling kid onto his shoulders.

Sneaking a sideways peek at his Nanao-chan, he noticed that she looked distinctly unsettled. Not to mention, the ink splatters had been wiped away by a handkerchief, but there still remained a small spot at her jaw. Her usually flawless uniform was slightly crinkled from resting a wooden board on her lap, and there were a few strands of hair escaping from the hair clip. He thought she looked good, but held his tongue and turned his attention back to the little kid, hoping that no one had noticed.

To tell the truth, Nanao had not noticed, having been trying to smoothen the crinkles out, and remove any ink stains. However, his actions had not gone unnoticed by the little one on his shoulders. A slight smirk came to the boy's face, but was quickly wiped away, a calm countenance replaced in its stead.

Hurriedly, he addressed Bya-bo, to get rid of the awkward silence which no one else had noticed. "Off we go to Rukongai, then." He felt the little body tense up. "Ne, Bya-kun, you've been to Rukongai before?" He tilted his head slightly to look up at his. A small shake of the head, as little hands grasped tighter to the straw hat which had been placed in his possession.

"Otou-sama says that Rukongai is a bad place. I'm not allowed to go there." A short pause. "Is it really a bad place, Shunsui-san? Are you sure we should be going there?" Shunsui blinked, tilting his head once more to look at the concerned face of his little charge. "Otou-sama says that it's a nasty place and that no one should go there."

Firstly, which father in the whole bloody world asked their kid to refer to them as 'Otou-sama'? He himself had grown up in a relatively aristocratic family, and as far as he had known, he had always addressed his parents as "Otou-san" and "Okaa-san", if not even more informally.

Next, what kind of person would make a kid so afraid of them? He would admit that Kuchiki, the grown up Kuchiki that was, was relatively intimidating, but they had heard of him dealing with Kusajishi before, so he wasn't nearly as bad. Why would anyone want to be mean to such a well-behaved (or at least most of the time) child anyway?

And further more, not all of Rukongai was a dangerous place. The first few districts were fine, as long as you treated the people with respect, which they did earn. Sure, it was not a place for little kids to be wandering off into, but it wasn't that bad, really. Goodness gracious. What kind of childhood had he had?

"Don't worry about that." He flapped a hand rather flippantly, trying to reassure the kid. "You'll be fine with both me and my wonderful Nanao-chan to protect you. Right, Nanao-chan?" He cast a glance over to where Nanao-chan was walking somewhere behind the two of them.

"That would be 'both your Nanao-chan and _I_', taicho," she pushed up her glasses. "Furthermore," her tone grew colder. "I am not _your_ Nanao-chan." Her tone relaxed a little, before she continued. "However, yes, with _Kyouraku-taicho and I_ around, you are perfectly safe, Bya-kun."

Byakuya giggled, muttering something like a cute little "Really?" before giggling even harder. Shunsui's eyes widened to saucers. It seemed like Bya-kun was not nearly as innocent as he seemed. Somehow, this felt like it had Jyuu's fingerprints all over it. He wondered why.

Nanao glared at Byakuya, but he just coyly stuck out a tongue in reply. Sighing, she resisted the urge to go up and ruffle his hair. Instead, she merely settled with a glare of lower intensity.

Shunsui thought she looked rather cute like that, but wisely held his tongue as the funny looking trio calmly hopped out of the window, flipping over a wall to avoid being seen by the Division members. He knew that it would be safer to make Kuchiki's presence known only after he and Jyuu had discussed this in greater detail. The last thing they needed was for the whole of Seireitei to be in uproar.

The trio exited Seireitei as quietly as they could, sticking to the more forested areas instead of the main roads. Partly because there were fewer shinigami here, and partly also because Shunsui preferred nature to the stone walls and floors of the paved streets.

He cast a glance back to Nanao-chan. Bya-bo seemed to have her wrapped around his finger. Kids and women. He would never understand. (He refused to acknowledge the fact that Bya-kun was growing on him.)

"Ano, Nanao-san?" Byakuya twitched slightly and turned around on his perch on Shunsui's shoulders.

"Hm?"

"Why are you walking behind us?" His eyes were large and quizzical, seemingly confused.

"Because as a fukutaicho it is my duty to…"

"But that's _boooooring_!" He wailed loudly. "And I can't see you."

"Why would you want to see me, Bya-kun?"

"Cos you look like Okaa-san."

"Pardon?"

"You look like Okaa-san. Okaa-san has black hair too." There was a pause, before he turned to Shunsui thoughtfully, an index finger on his lower lip. "Where's Okaa-san, Shunsui-san? I haven't seen her in some time."

Shunsui was painfully reminded of some time a few centuries back when the same innocent question had been asked by the same person in his midst. It was not a pleasant memory. "I'm not too sure, Bya-kun." He replied softly.

"Okay then. I'm sure she's waiting at home. Can we go home after this?" His voice took on an excited tone as he literally bounced up and down on Shunsui's shoulders.

"Jyuu-chan, oh sorry, that's Ukitake-san to you, says I need to bring you for a health checkup after getting you clothes."

"But I'm not sick."

"It's good to go for checkups every so often, right, Nanao-chan?" He was lying through his teeth, and he knew she knew it. He hoped that she would play along.

"It is." The softer side of her ached a little for the kid. But it was probably going to be over after the checkup, and hopefully, he would not remember anything about this, so it wouldn't be too bad, lying to him like this. She had to admit, Shunsui, no, Kyouraku-taicho was rather good at dealing with kids.

They continued down the road, Shunsui gathering the haori closer around him, with Bya-kun pointing out the different sights, sounds and smells around him, laughing and giggling every step of the way. Nanao noticed that none of the usual harassers seemed to move close to them. Instead, many girls, ladies as well as young men were grinning unabashedly at Kyouraku-taicho with Bya-kun on his shoulders. Probably something about being a kid that did it, eh?

"Here we are!" Shunsui beamed as he exclaimed loudly, picking Bya-kun off the perch on his shoulders and plopping him down on the floor.

They were standing outside a rather familiar looking house. Familiar to Nanao, as she had come here before. She blinked, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose slightly.

"Ano, Kyouraku-taicho…"

"Yes, Nanao-chan?"

"Isn't this _Hitsugaya-taicho's_ house?!"


	7. Immune To Soup?

Nanao had no idea what her taicho could be thinking. Nope. Her rational brain had just fled off somewhere over the horizon, and she was left standing, gaping as the two of them crossed over the threshold of the little yard. Had she still been rational, she most likely would have managed to postulate the correct reason why Kyouraku-taicho would know of this place. She simply could not imagine Hitsugaya-taicho telling him that, or Momo telling him either.

"Ah, Kyouraku-san! Do you need my help again?" An old lady came out from the house, standing just inside the doorway, a disapproving look on her face, arms akimbo. The stern expression faded quickly when she caught sight of the little figure standing next to the large pink taicho, only to return in the form of a frown.

"You didn't tell me you were married, Kyouraku-san! If I had known, I would never have let you hide away in my house!" Here she paused and craned her neck slightly, trying to get a better look at Nanao. "And married to such a pretty young lady! How could you not tell me, hm? You horrible horrible person, going out drinking all these times. You have a kid, you terrible person! Had I known, I would have told…"

"Ne, Obaa-san. I get the scolding from Nanao-chan all the time. Don't need ya to tell me." Shunsui cut in, just after he had placed his hat back on his head, a shield against the not-so-loud but still incredibly intimidating rant of the old lady.

"Taicho! You should be telling her that we are _not_ married! Not defending yourself!" Nanao glared at him, right hand going up to nudge at her glasses. She turned and bowed to the old lady. "Ise Nanao. Pleased to meet you. And Bya-kun here isn't our child," her voice lowered slightly, "since we're not even together anyway," her voice rose back to its normal level. "I'm just assisting Kyouraku-taicho in taking care of him. Right, Bya-kun?"

The grinning kid nodded happily. "Kyouraku-taicho isn't my otou-san. My otou-san is Kuchiki-taicho." Nanao grimaced slightly. Very slightly. Oh no. Bad. They had not, as of yet, informed the former-littlest taicho's grandmother (since now, Bya-kun was smaller than Hitsugaya taicho), as to what was going on. Oh dear. But strangely, and scarily enough, the lady did not seem phased, or even surprised.

Giving a very slight bow in return, she introduced herself. "You kids can address me as Obaa-san. It would be awkward in any other case, since you are Toushiro's friends." She turned to Shunsui, eyes narrowing in exasperation once more. "So, Kyouraku-san, why are you here? Matsumoto-san is not here, and you better not be here to tell me that you will be dropping off later because you are going drinking."

"Obaa-san, what makes you think I'm here for that, eh? Bya-kun here needs some proper clothes, so I thought we could…"

"I can tell. What is the poor thing dressed in anyway?" She glared at Shunsui who shrugged, before her face softened into a smile and she moved forward to scoop the little Byakuya up in her arms. "I'll go see if any of Toushiro's old clothes fit him. That one still has clothes left behind that he didn't bring with him to that Seireitei place. You two behave yourselves and wait out here."

Byakuya squirmed a little, unwilling to leave the two people he knew behind and to be stripped down by an old lady. He didn't like it. It was always Okaa-san who helped him change when he couldn't manage. And even now, he liked the feeling of the soft material that he was currently wearing, even though it was kind of funnily wrapped around him. Akon-san was not very good with these kinds of things, it would appear. He considered voicing his objections, but then a gentle hand came down to ruffle his hair, and it did seem to him that he could trust the old lady. After all, she was nice to him and nice to Kyouraku-san as well. He stopped squirming.

The old lady carried him through the halls, and he stared, wide-eyed at the few pictures on the walls, mostly of two children, a short brown-haired girl and an even-shorter grouchy white-haired boy who looked extremely unhappy in most of the pictures. It was the last picture that shocked him so much that he stopped fidgeting altogether.

It was a picture of the grouchy boy wearing a captain's haori with the letter ten on it. Now, Byakuya was young, and he was a little childish, but he certainly was not stupid. He had not seen that boy before, and Otou-sama had introduced him to the Tenth Squad Captain before. This boy could not be the Tenth Squad Captain. Otou-sama would have told Okaa-san, or would have discussed it somewhere, and he would have heard.

He frowned slightly, putting a finger to his lower lip as he wondered what was going on. Tugging gently on the sleeve of the old lady, he pointed at the picture, eyes wordlessly asking her about it. Her footsteps stopped as she came to a halt in front of it, turning warm brown eyes to him. "Hm? Oh, that picture. That's the first picture my Toushiro took when he became a captain, about ten years ago." Byakuya blinked.

"Ten years? But isn't the Tenth Division Captain another person, 'Baa-san?" He frowned in confusion. "Isn't the Tenth Division Captain that jii-san who doesn't like tea?" He looked up at this Toushiro's granny.

"You're…" She took a closer look at the small boy she was carrying. "You're Kuchiki-taicho's son, aren't you?" He nodded, beaming. "Che. I didn't know that Kuchiki Byakuya had children. He's kind of young for that, eh?"

Immediately, his eyes widened in shock. But…but…but… She was talking about him! He was Kuchiki Byakuya. What was going on? "Obaa-san? _I'm_ Kuchiki Byakuya." He nodded solemnly. "Otou-sama is Kuchiki-taicho."

She narrowed her eyes slightly, frowning but remaining silent. She was going to have to talk to that Kyouraku soon. However, Byakuya mistook the silence as an affirmation that he was correct, and said nothing more as they trooped down the hallway, entering a small room. It was much smaller than the ones in Kuchiki manor, but the light color of the walls, the sparse yet appropriate furniture, the light curtains and the open window made it look very homely.

He liked it. As such, when she placed him down on the futon and moved over to the windows to shut them, he did not so much as move or squirm. The futon was soft and comfortable, and he liked that too. It reminded him of his own, back at home. Which reminded him of Okaa-san. Where was she? Kyouraku-san seemed a bit hesitant when telling him that earlier on. Nothing was wrong with Okaa-san, right?

He frowned slightly in thought, and did not notice the absence of Obaa-san. Where was Okaa-san anyway? This was funny. But not in the good way. He did not like what was going on. He did not like it. Maybe he would ask Kyouraku-san later. Or maybe Ise-san would know. Or Ukitake-san. Or maybe even Akon-san. He frowned slightly, and only came back to reality when he felt delicate fingers undoing the knots in the cloth which held whatever it was that he was wearing in place.

Starting, he very nearly slammed the top of his head into Obaa-san's chin. Blushing sheepishly, he got up and stood very still, holding his hands out at his sides as he was used to doing. He did not notice the queer look that she shot his way as she quickly and neatly folded the white captain's haori. As confused as he was, his mind was just spinning with all the different thoughts and concerns, and he had completely missed the black diamond containing the 'six' symbol as well as the tell-tale markings.

Frowning slightly, she tucked his relatively skinny arms into the sleeves, before gathering the small grey kimono around his waist, tying it in place with a light green sash. Stepping back a little, she noted that it was a little short, but then again, the kid was rather skinny.

"Hm." Scooping him up once more, they made their way back out.

Byakuya grinned happily as he ran across the lawn towards Ise-san. He didn't really prefer one over the other, but it was some form of subconscious choice. No matter. He happily held out his hands to be carried, hopping up and down on the spot. His smile grew wider as she sighed and picked him up, resting him against her shoulder.

Shunsui's eyes widened in surprise as he watched Bya-kun run towards them, before narrowing in slight distaste. (And no, he was not jealous that Bya-kun had picked Nanao-chan over him. Nope, he was not.) Despite the fact that Bya-kun looked more child-like than blob-like now that he was no longer wrapped in that white cloth, he was still too skinny. Way too skinny. What were they doing to him anyway, starving the poor kid? Speaking of which… It was about time for lunch, wasn't it? Aha. Just in time. There was this nice place in the Fifth District that he frequented and had always wanted to show Nanao-chan.

"Time for lunch!" He exclaimed happily, bowing in thanks to Obaa-san and promising her that yes, he would bring his girlfriend around when he got one so that she could warn the poor girl in advance as to what she was getting into, and no, he was not going to be coming back to hide in a long time. He could tell that Nanao-chan did not seem too pleased. He turned around, and was about to leave, when Obaa-san approached him, a slight frown on her face, beckoning to him.

Curious, he hung back, his head tilted slightly as he studied her quizzically. "Ne, Obaa-san, what's it this time?" He frowned as she placed a folded piece of white cloth in his hands. The texture of the cloth was extremely familiar, and his eyes narrowed. A captain's haori? Why was she giving one of Hitsugaya taicho's captain haoris to him?

"He was wearing this. When you come back, Shunsui-san, I want to know all the details." Shunsui blinked. Oh, when he found out, he would definitely be sure to tell her. (Which would not be anytime soon, as no one he could approach knew.) Bya-kun had been wrapped in his own haori? Things were getting interesting. Or at least, highly amusing. He grinned, sweeping the cloth from her hands and tucking it between his captain's haori and shihakusho.

"Taicho?" Her eyes narrowed as she observed the exchange. What was that? Hm… There were a few possibilities, each as unlikely as the next. After all, she had no idea where Hitsugaya-taicho's grandmother had gotten that from.

"Lunch, my lovely Nanao-chan! It is time for lunch! My stomach proclaims it so," here he bent down, placing his head near Bya-kun's, which grumbled appropriately. Struck with a triumphant grin, he beamed. "And so does Bya-kun's!" He winked not-so-discreetly at Bya-kun before turning to her with a wide grin. "Does yours, Nanao-chan?"

She blinked, mortified at the implications if she said no, before glaring back at him.  
"Lead the way, taicho."

Said taicho beamed, looking triumphantly at Byakuya, who giggled and squirmed slightly in her arms. "Allow me, then!" He extended an arm to her, only to have it smacked by the fan. Although how she did it while still hanging on the Bya-kun, he had no idea. Sighing melodramatically, he pouted, before heading down the road in a swirl of pink fabric, leaving Nanao to pick up her pace to catch up.

"Taicho?! This is a pub!" She stared in semi-horror at her taicho, a disapproving frown creeping up her face as she studied the rundown place in front of her. "And pubs are no places for children!" She glared at the establishment, as though by simply doing so, the place would clean itself out and become a restaurant. (Fat hope. It was much more likely that the place would spontaneously combust/disappear. And that was not very likely at all.)

"Hm? But my Nanao-chan is no child, right?"

"Taicho!" She exhaled loudly, frustrated. "Not me! Bya-kun!" She turned her glare from the establishment onto him, eyes narrowing in anger. "We are not stepping foot into that place." She continued glaring at him, and when he didn't move or say anything except look indignant, she pulled out her last card. "What would Ukitake-taicho say if he knew that you had brought Bya-kun to a _pub_?!"

Shunsui huffed, looking sufficiently chastised, before sighing and pouting. "There's a nice teahouse a few streets down." He turned a head back to look at her, expression slightly mournful. " Ne, Nanao-chan, teahouses are okay?" She nodded, and he walked off again, the spring now conspicuously absent in his step. Oh well. He did have to learn to think before he acted, didn't he?

They settled themselves down in a nice cozy corner in the teahouse. Well, it wasn't really a little corner, more like a table under some shade. But it was still cozy enough, anyway. "What can I get for ya today?" The shop-hand drawled, a lazy smile on his face, apron stained slightly with orange soup stains, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, arms akimbo. "The special today's pork rib soup with rice. It's kinda spicy though."

"Do you have anything non-spicy?" Nanao asked, glancing at Bya-kun in concern. She was surprised to see him scowl and pout at her, crossing his little arms in front of his thin body. "I like spicy stuff, Ise-san." At her surprised look, he nodded vehemently, and she placed the order for three bowls of the soup.

Shunsui's eyebrows shot right up. Bya-kun did not look like the kind of person who would like foods like these. He did not really see the little one having many opportunities to sample these foods. Oh well. There were first times for everything, eh?

The soup came in mere moments, ladled out from a huge metal pot, steaming bowls of rice artfully balanced on the shop-hand's arms as he made his way over, a tray with the three bowls in his hands. Grinning, he placed them down on the table, holding out a slightly oily hand for payment. A few coins were exchanged, before they began eating. To his credit, the little one had sat perfectly still and not moved to touch the food in front of him.

"Itadakimasu." Shunsui grinned at the over eager look on Bya-kun's face as they dug in. Nanao had taken a sip of the soup. It was spicy, and barely within her limits. Already she could feel the heat spreading throughout her mouth. A light splash from next to her caused her to look up and away from the stall opposite which was selling drinks. And gaped at what she saw.

Happily splashing copious amounts of the spicy soup onto his rice such that it was beginning to resemble porridge, Byakuya looked up into the horrified faces of the two adults seated at the same table. "Kyouraku-san? Ise-san?" His face contorted in a cute little frown. "Is there something wrong? What did I do?"

Shunsui just stared unabashedly at the rice now swimming in the pale orange soup. He couldn't believe his eyes. "Bya-kun? Are you sure you can eat that?" Ah, the lovely Nanao-chan to the rescue. He beamed at her, before turning his attention back to the confused little kid.

"Isn't it edible?" To prove his point, he scooped up a spoonful of the soupy rice (or rice-y soup, since there was more soup in that spoonful than there was rice), and happily munched on it. "It's nice." To further prove his point, a second and third spoonful found its way into his mouth, as he blinked curiously at them. "Doshita, Ise-san? Kyouraku-san?"

The Eighth Division taicho gaped at the completely normal face of the little kid. "Bya-kun?" Said little kid turned happy grey eyes his way. "Isn't it spicy?" Two little fingers, an index and a thumb were raised and placed an extremely small distance from each other. He tilted his head slightly, pondering, before shaking his head, happily scooping another spoonful into his mouth.

Shunsui narrowed his eyes in thought at the way that the little kid had not so much as broke a sweat. Hm… So that was why none of the pranks had worked. Kuchiki was immune to spicy things. In fact, it looked like the little bugger actually enjoyed them, judging from the look of pure bliss on his face as he munched his way through the whole bowl of rice and half a pork rib. Damnit. Stupid Abarai had not gotten his facts correct. Just because the stick-up-his-ass had not eaten a single spicy dish in his lieutenant's company did not mean he could not take the spiciness. Darn. He sighed softly.

Nanao, on the other hand, could not help but be impressed.


	8. New Sensations

The meal was not completed in silence. There were soft little slurps coming from Bya-kun's direction, and Nanao attempted to resist the urge to stuff a napkin into his collar. The grey kimono was rather nice on him, and spots of orange would not make it look better. Attempting to resist the urge did not work, as she whipped out a napkin, swiftly tucking it in under his chin.

He looked up and beamed happily at her, before continuing with his meal. To the little one's credit, not once had he reached for the secretly kido-chilled drinks in front of them. She found it amusing that the taicho, whose tolerance for alcohol was inhumanely high, was gasping for breath, after having drunk a too large gulp of the soup, while the little boy opposite was happily slurping away.

The meal was completed quickly, and only one bowl was bereft of soup, though there was half a pork rib left within it. Wiping his mouth on the corner of the napkin to get the orange chili oil smears off, he looked up at them, grinning broadly as he took in their slightly reddened faces and the empty glasses in front of them. A slight giggle, before he waited patiently for them to finish their food.

Shunsui sent a severe faux-glare Bya-kun's way. "Hmph." He scowled at the kid, who giggled some more. A mischievous glint came to his eyes. "Ne, Bya-kun…" He looked at him, brown eyes serious, mouth turned in a solemn lack of expression. "Are you ticklish?" A smirk came to his face. A devious smirk.

These were the kind of questions that when asked, spelled doom. This one spelled a rather ticklish doom. Now, if only he would answer the question. Shunsui's smile grew slightly wider at the confused look on Byakuya's face, expecting the little one to be confused because he was wondering how he was going to get out of this un-tickled. Neither he nor his Nanao-chan expected the next sentence.

"Kyouraku-san?" Byakuya's brow furrowed as he tilted his head to the side, chewing his lip in thought. "What's ticklish?" Shunsui's jaw dropped. Dropped. Dropped. Dropped. Down into the abyss where all his finished sake bottles lay. He blinked, eyes widening in shock.

"Y-You've never been tickled?" He looked horrified. "What kind of deprived…" He wanted to say 'childhood had he had', but refrained from saying anything. "But how can you never have been tickled? It's impossible! It's the one thing that all relatives… Oh." Well, given the type of relatives that the poor kid had, Bya-kun still looked cutely confused, and Shunsui considered tickling him to see his response.

Nanao beat him to it, tickling the boy in the side with light fingers. Squeals of laughter were heard as he bent over, giggling madly as he tried to squirm away from her. "H-Help! Kyouraku-san!" The boy attempted to crawl away from the smiling Nanao, but failed miserably, exposing his ticklish side to Shunsui as well. The peals of laughter continued for quite sometime, before he fell relatively silent (or quieter, at least), catching his breath and collapsing in a giggling heap on the bench.

Nanao smiled, eyes shining with laughter. Trying to ignore the whispers of the people passing of "Oh, look, such a cute family", she found herself reddening much to her chagrin. Glaring at the passersby with the look she reserved for particularly stupid people, she gathered herself with dignity. "Taicho, we need to head to Fourth." Sighing at the lack of any response, she turned to their direction, seeing a particularly devious look from Bya-kun just before he launched himself at Kyouraku-taicho, landing on his stomach and tickling the big man.

Loud guffaws were heard as he clutched at his sides, tears of laughter leaking from his eyes. Somehow, Nanao could not bring herself to interrupt them. They looked too cute together. Urgh. Had she just mentioned Kyouraku-taicho and cute in the same sentence? Quickly banishing the thought from her mind, she sat back down, looking half-disapprovingly half-amusedly at them.

It took quite some time before they calmed down. As one, they turned devious eyes to her, identical wide grins on their faces. She merely glared at them, fan wielded menacingly in hand. They were going to be late meeting Ukitake-taicho if this kept up. Not to mention, she did not want Kyouraku-taicho to know that she was ticklish. Who knew what he would attempt next.

Identical pouts did not manage to do anything except quirk a smile, quickly wiped from her face as she repeated her earlier statement. "Taicho, we need to head to Fourth. It is not polite to keep Ukitake-taicho waiting."

Their faces fell slightly, but Byakuya's brightened up at the prospect of meeting Ukitake-san again. Ukitake-san was a fun person too. Sure, he was not too sure what this 'Fourth' place was, but if Ukitake-san was there, then it could not possibly too bad, right? He giggled happily as he was picked up off the bench and place on his feet on the floor.

He slipped a small hand into Kyouraku-san's large one, and they started walking down the road back to Seireitei. A few steps were taken before he stopped in his tracks, turning his head to look back at Ise-san. Frowning in confusion, he placed the index finger of his right hand, the one not holding Kyouraku-san's on his bottom lip. A short while later, he beamed happily at Ise-san, stretching out a hand.

Nanao looked at the hand curiously, and it was Shunsui's turn to prompt her. There was a quirk of his lips as he tried to prevent himself from laughing at the befuddled look on her face. "Nanao-chan… I think he wants to hold your hand." A widened grin reinforced the notion as he hopped up and down, hand waving at her. Gee. There was something about kids that made everyone just want to be their friend, wasn't there?

She took his other hand, him beaming happily back at her, the look of joy on face splendid. Hand in hand, the three of them proceeded down the side roads. Rukongai was as busy and bustling as it usually was, and the main roads were often too crowded. From where they were, Seireitei was visible, and as such, it would only be a short trek back to the city.

However, with little Bya-kun with them, a trip that would take about five minutes via shunpo now looked to take an hour. Hm. This would not do. As much as it was fun to watch him engross himself in all the interesting stalls on the way, they simply did not have time for that. Swinging Bya-kun up onto his shoulders, Shunsui passed his precious hat to his (equally precious) Nanao-chan.

The surroundings blurred as usual, as the two shinigami and one little kid zoomed past buildings, stepping lightly on roof tiles, ducking through side-streets, around trees and through crowds. They came to a halt in front of the gatekeeper, who graciously let them in without questioning the presence of Bya-kun, who had stared up in awe at Jidanbou-san.

Fourth was a minute or two away, but Shunsui slowed down and stopped in a side alley to allow the very pale Bya-kun time to catch his breath. He was ventilating rapidly, grey eyes widened in shock and fear, little knuckles gripping tightly onto Shunsui's pink haori. He was trembling slightly. "Are you okay?" Nanao's voice rang out in concern.

There was no visible response. Considering the fact that he was trembling, any nod or shake of the head could easily be regarded as something else. Seeing the reaction, Shunsui immediately regretted saving time with the shunpo. He had carried others through shunpo before, but really, none as young as Bya-kun. Perhaps it was not such a good idea then.

He gently lifted Bya-kun off his shoulders and placed him on the floor, next to the watchful eyes of his Nanao-chan. Swaying slightly, the boy stood there, face pale and shaking, hands groping out for support as though he could not see. His voice was soft and trembling, close to a mumble. "'Kaa-san?" He stumbled around, and tripped on his own feet.

Nanao caught him just in time, and the taicho waved a hand in front of his face to try and discern whether he could see. "Can't see, 'kaa-san." He swayed slightly, eyes clearer, and the look of fear completely gone, a slight giggle in its place. "Dizzy." He grabbed onto the nearest thing for support, which just happened to be Nanao's arm. Blinking rapidly, a small smile came to his face. "Fun."

Shunsui was bamboozled. Completely bamboozled. One moment, Bya-kun had been completely horrified, and the next, he was giggling happily. He was never going to understand kids. Never. He breathed a silent sigh of relief as Bya-kun steadied himself, still giggling madly. He knew that they were going to have to address the reason why there were so many unfamiliar faces (as well as the much more painful one of why Bya-kun's parents were not around), but he was thankful that it had not been brought up yet. Jyuu was much better at addressing things like this.

And better yet, Fourth was within sight. As they entered the compound, Nanao noticed that somehow, Kyouraku-taicho had managed to either lose Bya-kun, or make him invisible. She suspected that the little boy was being hidden somewhere in the layers of pink and white cloth. If the taicho could hide bottles of sake there, hiding Bya-kun would not be too difficult. Their cover was almost blown by little giggles, very soft giggles partially muffled by cloth as the two males stumbled down the corridor.

Almost. Fourth was rather noisy as usual, and for the first time in her life (Fine, not really the first time. It might have been her third time or something.), Ise Nanao thanked the gods for the Eleventh Division.

It was a very short trek through the corridors down to Unohana-taicho's office, but one fraught with danger at every step. Goodness, there were shinigami barreling out of every door and in every direction possible. Nanao would have dodged a collision with a particularly burly Eleventh Division swathed from head to toe in bandages, had it not been for the fact that she knew that a former-taicho had been standing right behind her. But the thing was, she knew.

And as such, an elbow came out to jab the insolent member in the ribs, successfully diverting the potential collision away and into a janitor's closet. She mentally apologized to the Fourth Division, before they continued their perilous way down the very busy and bustling corridor.

Unohana-taicho's office was… There was no word to describe it. It was just peaceful, and quiet, and everything that the outside was not. Not to mention the fact that a very smug, and suspiciously happy looking Ukitake-taicho was sitting inside, a cup of tea in his hand. Across the table sat Unohana-taicho, smiling that kind gentle smile of hers as the lump which was wrapped in pink unwrapped itself from the haori, having some trouble removing the cloth from his head.

Bya-kun's face peeked shyly from around Kyouraku-taicho's knees, a curious look on his face as he stared up at the funny braid lady, whom he was sure he had met before but really could not recall the name of. He knew that Otou-sama had introduced her before, but really, he could not remember her name.

"You are Bya-kun?" He beamed and nodded eagerly. "I am Unohana Retsu." She had crossed the room and come over to him, bending down slightly to his eye level. It made Shunsui feel like some sort of parent. In the background, Ukitake was trying his darndest not to burst out laughing at the sight in front of him. After having spent the past half an hour trying to first, recount the tale, and then convince her that no, he was not lying, and that no, he was not on caffeinated drinks again, this was simply priceless.

"Pleased to meet you, Unohana-san." He dipped into a short bow, and Shunsui exclaimed indignantly. "Oi, oi. How come she gets a bow and I don't, Bya-kun?" Said boy in question merely blinked back at him, eyes widened in confusion. His hand moved as if to scratch his head, but quickly fell back down when he realised that everyone was looking at him.

"But Otou-sama said that I'm only supposed to bow to ladies or to people he bows to too." He paused for a moment as he looked Shunsui up and down, frowning severely. "And you don't look like a lady, Kyouraku-san."

There was a snort and a splash, and all heads turned to Ukitake who had been watching the exchange silently. The cup of tea he had held in his hands was now half full. Half of the tea was still in the cup, and the other half was dripping out from his left hand, which were cupped at his mouth. Eyes twinkling with laughter, he waved away their concerns, wiping at his mouth with a handkerchief. There were no red stains, and the three shinigami visibly relaxed.

Turning her attention back to the little one in front of her, Unohana gently picked him up by the underarms, swooping him out of her office and into the adjoining examining room. He giggled happily, before shivering a little as his top was undressed. He frowned slightly when he saw her bring a palm with reiatsu closer but did not move to do anything.

She frowned slightly as she mentally processed the results, before continuing on the routine health checkup, making him do all the normal things it was that doctors made kids do these days. It was rather queer to be doing the checkup for someone other than Kusajishi-san, but it was still a checkup. The stick out the tongue and say aah, followed by the clenching of the teeth and the eeh. Then the gentle prodding of his very visible ribs as well as taking his weight and height.

Halfway through the examination, he yawned loudly, a little hand going to cover his mouth as he rubbed at his eyes sleepily. She smiled at him, before leaving him there for a short while to write the quick report. When she was finished, she turned back to find his kimono gently worn back. As she moved to carry him back to her office, she noticed that he was already asleep, sprawled out on the cushioned examining surface.

Retsu carefully lifted the sleeping boy off his makeshift bed and back into the office, where she was met with the eyes of three very concerned high-ranked shinigami. They looked like parents, she mused, very much like Zaraki-san whenever Yachiru-san was brought in for her yearly checkup. Gently waving a hand to indicate the obvious lack of sound in the room, she drew their attention to the sleeping child.

Lowering her voice to a whisper, she motioned for them to come closer, after she had placed Bya-kun in Kyouraku-san's arms. "You should bring him back to your division," she addressed him, "and try not to disturb him too much. Currently, his reiatsu level is unstable. It is much lower than it has ever been, but is fluctuating. As of yet, we cannot determine for sure the cause of this change," she directed her gaze to the much smaller form of Kuchiki Byakuya than she was used to, "but I will get in touch with Kurotsuchi-san and we will figure this out. In the meantime, I would suggest you take care of him. He was not a particularly popular person, famous but not popular, so there might be some with the intention of causing harm. As such, I would advocate not spreading the news."

Shunsui nodded solemnly, before the lazy smile came back to his face. The whisper was rather uncharacteristic of him though. "Ne, Retsu-san, is there a second way out of here? The corridor is full of Eleventh Division. We'd have to blow something up to get out of here quietly, but even then it would not be quiet. There aren't any silent kido explosions, are there, Nanao-chan?" The lieutenant in question glared at her taicho before shaking her head curtly.

Unohana smiled, before gesturing for the three parent-ish shinigami to leave through her own private walkway. A grin from Ukitake-san, a short bow from Ise-san, and a jaunty wave from Kyouraku-san and the three of them strolled off in the direction of Eighth Division. Once they were gone, she sighed softly. It was not in her nature to not want to work with people, but Kurotsuchi-san tested her patience even on her better days, and that was saying a lot.


	9. Sleep

To tell the truth, he did consider sending little Bya-kun back to the Kuchiki estates. Considered. But only considered for a split second. The possibility was immediately ruled out. The weird shits at the Kuchiki manor were no child-rearing people. Who knew what they would do to him. The next possibility was the Eight Division office, but with the loud noises coming from outside, as well as the rather messy state of affairs ruled out this possibility. Thirteenth was automatically out. Kotetsu and Kotsubaki were loud enough to wake the dead.

That left their personal chambers, and as much as Shunsui did not want to have to be quiet in his own quarters, he was even more reluctant to leave Bya-kun in the sole care of Jyuu. Not that he did not trust Jyuu. It was just that he would feel better if the little boy was near him. Oh goodness. He was really becoming a parent. Sighing slightly, he changed course a little, heading towards his place. The Kyouraku manor, or house, rather, was significantly smaller than the Kuchiki one, partly because Shunsui was the second son (while little Bya-kun was the sole heir), and partly also because frankly, he did not have a need for such a large manor.

He set Bya-kun down in a spare futon which Nanao-chan had dug out from the cabinet. How she knew where everything was placed surprised him a little. However, it was only a little, because knowing her, well… yeah. He just sort of expected it. Tucking the blanket around his little shoulders, the three shinigami quietly exited the room and out onto the porch, where Shunsui gleefully set out a sake bottle and three cups, only to have two of them turned down in favor of tea. Oh well.

It was still early in the day really. The evening was just beginning to come around, the sun slowly setting, reds and yellows slowly swirling in the sky. Clouds gathered in the distance, but otherwise, it was rather still, the very light breeze only slightly ruffling the leaves, such that the normal rustling was not heard. They sat there, sipping at their drinks, laughing, chatting and just relaxing. To tell the truth, Shunsui was relaxed as usual, Ukitake was being his normal genial self, and Nanao supposed that she was tense enough for all three of them. Goodness. She could just imagine the heap of paperwork waiting for her, and she sighed softly.

"Aye, Nanao-chan." He lifted his cup for a sip, casting his glance over to her.

She blinked, surprised out of her reverie, turning towards the two taichos. "Pardon, Kyouraku-taicho, but what did you just say?"

"Jyuuuuu! My Nanao-chan was not listening to me! Oh what am I going to…" He wailed dramatically, hands and sake cup flailing wildly as he sought his friend's attention, only to have his mouth rapidly clamped shut by a frowning Ukitake.

"He's sleeping, Shun. Use some common sense, will you?" Rolling his eyes, Ukitake smiled slightly, picking up his own teacup and taking a sip. It was a rather cool evening, and dinnertime was approaching. He was already hungry though. Damn illness. Then again, he was one of the lucky ones who got to eat as much as they wanted and still not grow horizontally.

Said taicho pouted, face softening slightly as he sneaked a look towards the door when he thought that no one was looking. However, Nanao had not been his fukutaicho and neither had Jyuushiro been his best friend for nothing. They exchanged a small smile at the comical actions of their mutual friend. For claiming that the kid would not like him, Shunsui was making a pretty good parent. They sat there for a moment or so, silently sipping at their drinks, each thinking of different things as they stared at the setting sun, the gradually darkening sky.

A rumble disturbed the silence, and a shocked look appeared on Nanao's face as she turned to glare at Kyouraku-taicho who held up his two hands in a sign of surrender. "Wasn't me, Nanao-chan!" A sly grin came to his face as he pointedly ignored the reddening visage of a certain white-haired man who coughed politely. Nanao looked over in concern, but Shunsui was not at all concerned. He had been around Jyuu for long enough to know when the coughs were fake and when they were not. "Was it you?" He smirked in the direction of Nanao, purposefully ignoring the source of the noise.

Eyes widening slightly, for she had not noticed Ukitake-taicho's obvious distress, she shook her head. "Shut it, Shun. It was me." There was a pause as Ukitake glowered at his counterpart. "And I'm hungry," he added with a smug grin, getting up from his place at the porch, dusting lightly at his haori as he placed his teacup down. Nanao watched half in amusement and half in mortification at the exchange between the two captains. Despite having been Kyouraku-taicho's lieutenant for quite some time already, she was still a little awkward amongst the two who knew each other so well.

Thirteenth was livelier than usual. After all, it was not often that Ukitake-taicho was both well enough and not too busy to be able to join the division. And it was even rarer that Kyouraku-taicho as well as Ise-fukutaicho dropped by for dinner. Adding that to the fact that the competitive third seats had been sent out on a mission, Thirteenth was at an all-time high. (Well, not really an all-time high. Things had been better when Shiba-fukutaicho had been around, but still, this was rather good.)

It was nice and friendly, interspersed with the occasional rude joke and the raucous laughter. Nanao found herself smiling along to the silly jokes, which for once, did not revolve around sake and its after effects like those her captain loved to spout. And the food was not bad too. Much better than all those takeouts and boxed meals that she normally ate. Nanao was enjoying herself, and paperwork was the furthest thing from her mind.

* * *

_He could see the slow procession, felt himself holding onto the gloved hands of someone else. The clothes were scratchy, they were uncomfortable. He frowned when he noticed the mournful tone of the proceedings. It was then that he saw something. Something very familiar. A splay of black hair. Running up to the front, he stood there stunned._

Byakuya shifted slightly, whimpering as he bolted upright, eyes widened in fear. No. No. Okaa-san was not dead. She was alive, and she was in the next room and he was going to go over and talk to her right now. Small fingers curled around the futon, feeling the material beneath him as he kicked off the blankets and got up. Heart pounding, he looked around him. This was not his house. The patterns of the mats were different. The rafters were arranged differently, and the room was slightly larger than the one he had. He whimpered as he ran to the doorway, roughly wrenching the shoji door open.

The garden outside was completely unfamiliar, and he looked around him in confusion. He did not recognize this place. He had no idea where he was. That frightened him more than he would admit. Dashing off into the garden, he just ran, not knowing where he was going, just knowing that he had to find Okaa-san, and soon. She couldn't be dead. She just couldn't. He ran on through the garden, small sock-clad feet pattering on the grass and flagstones. He did not feel the light drops of rain on his shoulders until it was a little too late, and he found himself standing in what seemed to be a forest as the raindrops pelted down at him.

Whimpering, he stopped running, shuffling slowly around in search of shelter. He was getting wet and he did not like it. He could not find a place, just crouching down in a bush and curling up. He sniffed slightly, rubbing at his eyes with a damp hand, and shivered as he hid in the bush. He did not like this at all. Was Okaa-san okay? Where was she? Normally she would be the first one to notice something wrong and would be there when he woke up. He sniffled again, shivering. It was cold, it was dark, and he was wet. And scared. Closing his eyes to shut out the shadows of the trees around him, he sneezed, and his tired body slowly lapsed back into a dangerous sleep.

* * *

This chapter is a little short and perhaps a little angsty, but bear with me... The humor and comic relief should be arriving soon.

* * *


	10. Raining A Thunderstorm

"What do you mean he's not here?" Ukitake frowned, voice slightly raised in agitation as he entered the room, tiptoeing but just giving up when water seeped through and wet his socks.

Shunsui and Nanao were standing in the room, the former looking extremely flustered, and the latter furiously checking all the cabinets. "He's not here either, sir."

"I meant exactly that, Jyuu. He's not here! We left him there!" Shunsui pointed into the room, now half flooded from the rain pouring through the open window and rushing in through the open door. The now wet futon sat there quietly, the pillow in the exact same position, the blankets tangled in a small soggy heap at the side.

"We left him there and then we went to dinner, remember? He was sleeping! And now he's not fucking here! And it's raining outside! It's a fucking thunderstorm! I don't know where the kid is! Oh gods, help me, Jyuu! I've just managed to lose Kuchiki Byakuya!"

Nanao was too flustered to correct his language. Taking in a deep breath, she tried to focus and think logically, banishing the thoughts of a very charred Bya-kun from her head. It was more likely that he was huddled up somewhere… She shuddered, before forcing herself to focus. Two distressed taichos were potentially very dangerous, especially if the two were a semi-drunk Kyouraku-taicho and an agitated Ukitake-taicho. "Perhaps we should search the house, Kyouraku-taicho?"

"I'll search the attic." Seeing that Shunsui was too flustered and too distressed to answer, Ukitake turned and disappeared up the narrow staircase.

"I'll search this floor. You can search the grounds, taicho." Nanao chucked him a parasol, and shoved him out of the door. "You know the grounds the best. We'll join you when we're done."

Ukitake coughed. Volunteering to search the attic had not been one of his better ideas. Swiping away at the cloud of dust that erupted once he had set foot in the upper level, he waited for it to settle. There were no footprints or handprints anywhere. Bya-kun could not have been here. He could not be here. Swiftly exiting the dusty place, he coughed into his handkerchief, relieved to see the distinct lack of any splatters of red.

He met a surprisingly efficient Ise-san in the front porch. She was holding onto two parasols and extended one to him. A curt nod and a minute later found them arriving next to a flustered and rather wet Shunsui. "Concentrate on his reiatsu, taicho. I could not sense it in the house, so I waited for Ukitake-taicho and we came here."

"But his reiatsu has probably changed!" Shunsui's head contacted with the handle of a third parasol. "It probably has not changed much. Don't think about these things, Kyouraku-taicho. Just focus on it. I cannot sense it, not even a trace, but I think you two will have better luck."

Ukitake was already trying very hard, conjuring up the image of Kuchiki Byakuya in his mind. It was not working. Nothing seemed to correspond to the uniquely well… flowery reiatsu that he normally suppressed. Nope. An image of the little one asking for a pinky swear swam into his mind. He simply could not remember the reiatsu, just that it had felt distinctively Kuchiki. That was not a help, as there were no other Kuchikis he could ask. Rukia didn't really count, and he was not about to go gallivanting over to Kuchiki manor.

He stopped, startled as he felt Shunsui shunpo away. Chasing after him, he vaguely noticed Ise-san following behind him. "You have him, Shun?" He called out, yelling above the rain and the occasional rumble of thunder. The pink man only sped up, pausing for a split second as he turned his head back, brown eyes completely serious.

"I don't know."

* * *

He shivered, rudely awoken by the clap of thunder. Whimpering, he crawled deeper into the bush, trying to hide as much of himself as he could. He saw a flash come down, and lone tree burst into flame right next to him, though it was swiftly put out by the rain. He bit back a frightened scream, scrambling backwards into the prickly bush, not noticing the thorns, his eyes widened in fear. Where was okaa-san?

He backed out of the bush and onto a path. He looked around wildly, scrambling to his feet and looking around for shelter. There was slight glow in the clouds above his head. He whimpered and started to run away from it. Something told him that it was not good to be there. Sure enough, there was a loud crack next to him, and he found himself flung into the air.

Crashing to the ground in a shaking heap of bones, he scrambled to his feet, ignoring the scrapes on his palms and knees as he ran off the path and back into the bushes. The bushes were safer than the path. That much he knew. Curling up into a ball, he whimpered softly. He wanted okaa-san, and he wanted her now. He was scared. Really scared.

Holding back tears, he tried to remember what okaa-san had told him to do when he got lost. Something about staying put and not moving, but other than that, he couldn't really remember. He tugged his sodden clothes closer, hoping that they would provide him with a little warmth. They did not, and he shivered, grey eyes widened in fear. He was all alone out here! It was cold, it was wet, and he was lost. He did not like this one bit, and he was going to cry.

He bit his lip, shifting around in the suddenly prickly bush, trying to make himself comfortable but only resulting in a few more scratches on his arms and legs. He whimpered. Where was okaa-san? She couldn't be… No. She couldn't be dead. Okaa-san couldn't be dead. It was impossible. It couldn't be… Could it? He shivered, this time in fear and apprehension. He needed okaa-san, and he needed her now.

Just then, there was a wonderfully warm whoosh of air, and a pair of hands pushing aside the branches of the bush, picking him gently up and out of the bush. He came face to face with a very flustered looking Kyouraku-san. Blinking, he curled into a smaller ball, staring up back at him. Shivering, he snuggled into the warmth of the pink haori. Once he was a little settled down, he couldn't take it anymore, and began to cry. He wanted okaa-san. He really wanted okaa-san.

Shunsui's heart settled itself back in its proper face as he found himself face to face with a very morose and frightened but still in one piece Kuchiki Byakuya. A little startled when the kid began to cry, he lifted him out from the rather thorny bush, hugging him close. Goodness gracious. The little one was freezing. Completely soaked to the bone, black hair stuck to his face as he shook with sobs, mumbling something about his okaa-san.

"You have…" Ukitake skidded to a halt, looking concernedly over at Shunsui and the bush. A relieved smile came to his face as he caught sight of the black hair, replaced quickly with a frown at the damp clothes sticking to his already too-pale skin. "We should head back."

They began the short walk back. Bya-kun had not strayed too far from the manor, so he probably had not been out in the rain for too long. They could not really tell from the degree of soaked-ness that he was in, as even Ukitake-taicho was currently drenched. They were all drenched. Shunsui figured that really, they should have left someone behind to take care of him. However, hindsight is 20/20, so it really could not apply. There was nothing they could do about it.

The two taichos quickly peeled the wet clothes off Bya-kun, dressing him in the smallest clothes Nanao had found lying around. Even so, the lavender cloth pooled around him, the little kid nearly swimming in the stuff. Nanao found it a little odd that he did not object to anything, and had not spoken, but since the two taichos had not said anything, then it was not her place to comment.

Wrapping him in a few blankets, Shunsui shuffled Bya-kun towards the crackling fire in the middle of the room, pressing a warm cup of tea into his hands. He had stopped crying once they had neared the house, but had not spoken since. A small mumbled interrupted his thoughts. "Pardon, Bya-kun? I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention. You were saying?"

His head drooped even lower as he shook his head chewing his lip, as he clutched tightly onto the cup of tea. He watched the crackling fire, and could not shake the dread in his chest. A particularly loud crackle reminded him of the… He gulped, closing his eyes and looking away from the fire.

Resting a hand on Bya-kun's shoulders, Ukitake was about to ask him a question, when all of a sudden, the little one burst into tears, dropping the cup of tea and spilling it all over his feet. He was stumped. Now, exactly what had happened? What could have happened in the short span of time in which they had been at dinner? Not really knowing what to do, Nanao just went over, scooping the kid into a hug, holding him as he sobbed, slowing down to hiccups as he rubbed at his eyes.

It was so soft she nearly missed it. "'Want Okaa-san." He mumbled, snuggling into her hug, tugging the blankets over himself as he shrank into a ball, shifting around uncomfortable before settling with looking up at Nanao.

"Ise-san? Where's okaa-san? 'S she here? I had a bad dream." His shoulders slumped slightly, voice going even softer than before. "I dreamt that okaa-san was…" He sniffed, eyes tearing up once more as he looked at her. "I dreamt that she was dead. There were the fires and everything. She wasn't moving and Otou-san looked sad." He didn't allow any of them to say anything, before babbling on. "She's not dead, right? She's just somewhere else, and she'll be coming back tomorrow? Right?"

His eyes darted around the room, fists clenched around the blanket. "I don't want okaa-san to be dead." He chewed at his lower lip nervously. "But then, where's she? I woke up and she wasn't there. And she wasn't anywhere. And I was somewhere else. I don't know where she is. Do you know where Otou-san is? Maybe he knows where she is." He frowned, blinking rapidly. "But then Otou-san would be here too. They're not dead, right?" He tugged at Nanao's sleeve.

"Right? Right, Ise-san? They're not dead, right?" His eyes widened as he looked around the room frantically, desperately seeking a response. "Right?" When no one answered him, his face fell, and he crawled out of her lap, tugging the blanket along with him to a corner, slumping there in a heap of damp hair, damp socks and damp eyes.

"They can't be dead…"

He had no idea what to do. He had always known that this moment would arrive. But not so soon! He had not expected it so soon. And he had no idea what to say, hope to cope with this, and what to do. He was completely clueless, and from what he could see, Nanao-chan was equally clueless.

Ukitake, on the other hand had shuffled along towards the corner, attempting to hug Bya-kun as the little boy stared blankly into a corner. The boy merely looked back at him, grey eyes haunted, as he pushed the taicho away, tucking in his knees and turning his attention back to the crackling flame in the middle of the room.

"We'll be next door if you need us, Bya-kun. Try to get some sleep." Shunsui swooped down and gave him a brief squeeze, Nanao giving him a hug. They did not know what to do beyond that, closing the shoji door behind them as they left. He did not acknowledge them, merely staring at the fire as they left the room.

Nodding a quick good night, Nanao picked up a parasol and made her way back to Eigth's barracks, where her own quarters were. They did not say anything. There was nothing to say, nothing that they could say. Neither of them really knew Bya-kun or the Kuchikis. And the poor child, really. Some vaguely motherly instinct welled up in her, but she knew that in his current distressed state, he did not want the attention, or the comfort that they could try to give. The only comfort that he would want… He would not be able to get.

He chewed on his lip. He was not going to cry. He was not going to cry. He was not going to… Okaa-san… He needed okaa-san. And she couldn't be dead! Because if she was dead then she couldn't come back anymore and he needed her! He clutched the blanket tightly, tears falling now that there was no one around to see.

The rain continued on outside, as he gradually fell asleep.


	11. Carried Away

Shunsui was up at the crack of dawn, having had a rather sleepless night even after he had left Bya-kun alone in the room. It was not so much the worry that the little boy would run away again, perhaps more because he was worried for the little one. He was rather clueless as to what he could have done to help, seeing as he had not encountered many children before, and all the solutions of emotional problems tended to be found in the bottom of a sake bottle.

And children did not drink sake, thus resulting in the ineffectiveness of his usually extremely effective cure.

He had slept in little catnaps, each an hour or two, before waking up on his own, worried and going next door to ensure that the fire was still burning, that it was still warm, and that the damp one was still there. (No longer damp, of course.) And yes, he had still been there, still curled up in that little corner the last time he checked, which had been about two hours ago. Shunsui sighed, shaken from his thoughts by a rumble somewhere near his midsection.

"Breakfast already?" He muttered, shaking his head, smiling slightly. Peering out the window, he noted that the slight morning chill was still present. "And it's not even six yet." Oh well. Trudging off in the direction of the kitchen, he took one last look, checking that Bya-kun was still in the room, and still blissfully asleep, before going for his morning cup of sake.

He nearly tripped over a black cat in the doorway. A very annoyed-looking black cat who was scowling at him. Oh crap. He had forgotten. Grinning sheepishly, he took a step back. (Or two, actually.)

"_**KYOURAKU SHUNSUI!**_" The next second, he found himself face to face with a very angry Shihouin Yoruichi. A naked one, but as he tossed her a set of clothes, happily averting his eyes, a very angry one.

"Sorry! I'm sorry, okay? Ow. Ow! Not… OW!" He pouted, nursing a few bruises on his arm and chest. "I didn't mean to forget, you know. I just… I had a very interesting day yesterday, and it slipped my mind. I didn't mean to! Really!" He grinned broadly, remembering the half an hour long tickle fight, as well as the ink splatters before that. And his Nanao-chan, of course. Who would he be if he did not remember his Nanao-chan? "Ow! What was that for, Yoruichi?"

"Kisuke and I were waiting by the gate all day just for you, you ass! And then when I came over, I couldn't find you or Jyuushiro _anywhere_. I couldn't even leave a damn note because your office looked like a _pigsty_! What the hell were you doing, Shunsui? What the heck was so important that you completely forgot that we've been planning to meet up for a drink for the past few months?"

He shuffled slightly on the spot the same goofy grin still on his face. He had been sort of carried away with handling Bya-kun, and frankly, he had completely forgotten about the meeting, so it was true, after all. He and Jyuu-chan and Nanao-chan had had a difficult time, what with Bya-kun running off in the middle of the night and in a damn thunderstorm too. Hm… he wondered how said little kid was doing right now. What did he normally eat for breakfast anyway? Porridge? Bread? Because if that was the case, then he was going to need to buy something back for the kid… Now, where to buy it from?

Yoruichi glared at him, muttering something about ungrateful idiots and womanizing gits. Half expecting an indignant response, she turned around to find him staring at the kitchen table, seemingly deep in thought. Scowling, she kicked at his shin. "What is it that's got you so carried away, hm? The lieutenant of yours agreed to go out with you?" She grimaced, realizing what she had just asked about. "On second thought, I don't really want to know." If it were anyone else, they would probably gush about the loveliness of the date, but knowing him, nu uh. She did not want to know.

"Huh, you said something?" He grinned at her again, another of his goofy grins, except that this one was a little sheepish. Hm… Porridge did sound like a good idea. Besides, the poor thing had been out in the rain the previous night, and it would be good to have something warm for a change. Besides, porridge was a rather safe option. There was lots of stuff that could go with it. He found himself imagining a heap of pepper, and chuckled.

A purple eyebrow raised. "What's on your mind?" It was then that she noticed the child-sized yukata drying in front of the fire. "Hang on, Kyouraku Shunsui… Is there something that you're not telling me?" She leant forward and shook his shoulder. "Seireitei to Shunsui, are you alright?" There was something fishy about this, and she was willing to wager her entire career as the head of the Onmitsukido that something was going on. Oh wait. She was no longer head of the Onmitsukido. No matter.

His grin was now more focused. "Yeah, I'm fine… Was just thinking about what to buy Bya-kun for breakfast."

Yoruichi choked on the sip of sake, spluttering indignantly, eyes widened in shock, and a little horror. The bottle clunked to the table, and Shunsui leapt to keep it from spilling. (It would seem that he was not completely dazed, then.) He frowned at her, no doubt about to comment about the possible wastage of sake and how that should be avoided. Yoruichi beat him to speaking. "Y-You're…" She coughed once more, swiping at the air with a hand. "H-He swings the other way? Y-YOU SWING THE OTHER WAY?!"

"WHAT?!" Shunsui stared back at her agape, before it hit him. Eyes widened in horror, he shook his head vigorously. "NO! No! I do _not_ like him that way!"

"But I swear you just said you're buying him breakfast!"

"Uhm. Yeah. Breakfast." Looking at her narrowed eyes, he began to grow defensive, which in Yoruichi's book meant guilt. "So? It's just breakfast. The kid…" He paused, a light going on in his head. (figuratively speaking) A sly devious grin that was much more characteristic of him than the dazed glazed look came to his face. "Ohhh." A smirk. "I forgot. You don't know."

"Don't know what?" Well, it was quite obvious that she had no idea what in heck he was thinking. (Or rather, seeing as he was seeing _coughByakuyacough_, it would mean that he probably was not thinking. Urgh. She could not even begin to consider the intricacies of their relationship. She did not want to begin to consider the intricacies of their relationship. No, no, no. Eek. Get those nasty thoughts out of your head, Shihouin Yoruichi!)

Shunsui grinned. By the disgusted face, he could tell that Yoruichi was under the impression that he and Kuchiki were ew, _dating_... Which was wrong. Dreadfully wrong. Too wrong to be _just_ wrong. It was so horribly off the mark that it was almost funny. Almost. It really could not have been further from the truth. He felt more father-ish than ew… Never mind. In any case, it would be interesting to watch this play out. His stomach rumbled. Damn. There was no time to let this play out. But on the other hand… He considered his actions, both the pros and the cons before deciding on one course of action.

Maybe Yoruichi would be able to snap the poor kid out of his depression. He lowered the brim of his hat slightly, a sign to anyone who knew him long enough, which included Yoruichi, that he was up to something. (It was an unconscious act for him, so really, he had no idea how much he was giving away.) "Do you want to speak to him? Bya-kun's currently in the guest room." Another smirk as yet another mouthful of sake ended up somewhere halfway between her hand and her mouth.

"Hell yeah!" She slammed the cup down on the table. "This is… disturbing, to say the least. How could you, Shunsui? I thought you weren't over your lieutenant yet? And I thought you really, really liked her? What happened to that? Got turned down too many times so you're trying your luck with someone else who needs to get laid as well? So _this _is the reason why you didn't turn up and didn't bother to tell Kisuke and I that we didn't need to wait four freaking hours for nothing?"

"Um. No?" He blinked, taking a step backwards and reminding himself of exactly how funny this was going to be after she went to see him. Hopefully, it would be worth it. The scheming look returned to his face. "Look, just go talk to him, okay? Everything will clear up then." She scowled back at him, stalking out of the room in a whirlwind of purple hair.

After traversing down the corridor, he began to have doubts. Shit. What was wrong with him? He was Kyouraku Shunsui, and he did not doubt. Especially not himself. Urgh. Where had the voice in his head that said _"In any case, better to be safe than sorry"_ and that sounded like Nanao-chan come from? Urgh. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he weathered her fierce glare. "What, Shunsui?"

He sighed, before deciding to tell her the truth. Gee. That voice was such a spoilsport. _"Aha, but in this case, there's a greater chance that you'll be stuck with a happy kid later, right?"_ Sweeping the voice, which now sounded oddly like Katen Kyoukotsu (and probably was a subconscious reminder of the sword dwelling in his subconscious) back into where it belonged, he scratched at his hair nervously as he watched the scariest and possibly most skilled user of hand-to-hand combat in Seireitei digest the information.

"Hm." He blinked, stunned at her reaction. To tell the truth, he had expected an outburst of some sorts, accompanied by copious amounts of violence. Apparently not. Before he could react, she had slid open the shoji door and entered the room. Uh oh.

She stood there, a little stunned. This was… quite a revelation. Rather different from what she had originally expected, but still quite a revelation. At least this was less disturbing. Only a little less. Frankly? It intrigued her. And yes, she was very, very interested.

Curiousity killed the cat, hm? Hopefully not this time, then.

* * *

Here's a short chapter for now! I'd like to hear your opinions on this: Should I introduce more characters? Or should I limit it to fewer? I've got a vague plot in mind as well, so any plot ideas are welcome! :)

Cheers,  
Tani


	12. Got You, Little Biddy

He looked up from his little corner when he heard some sounds. The soft sounds of footsteps on wet grass. Jerking awake, he tugged the blanket closer, over his head, curling up into a little ball. He did not like this at all. The sounds sounded like they were made by someone who should not be there. The shadows cast by the trees outside the room danced over the floor, the flickering flame in the middle of the room not helping matters. He did not like this, not one bit. Okaa-san was not here, and she could not help him. Otou-sama was not around either. He was all alone! Shaking slightly under the blanket, he held his breath as the high window creaked slightly. He watched, horrified as the shutters creaked open.

A silhouette, a dark one, dark because the background was light, entered through the window. Byakuya bit back a whimper, not moving a muscle, for fear of being found out. He heard a "Tsk", and the footsteps approached the pile of blanket in the corner of the room. A finger reached down to poke the blanket, meeting his rib and he bit back a scream when it was whisked off him in a flurry.

Blinking in horror, he found himself staring back at a person with black cloth wrapped around his face and himself like the Second Division Special Forces that Otou-sama had shown him the other time. Said person bent down to his head height. There was an almost maniacal look in his eyes. "Hm… What do we have here? A little biddy?" Byakuya backpedaled away from the person as fast as he could, moving away from him, to the other corner of the room. He had a feeling that this was not good, not good at all. Especially when the person followed him, something like a sneer behind the cloth. "Say, little biddy… What's your name?"

"K-K-Kuchiki…" He was cut off by a rough hand to his cheek. There was a sharp sting, and he was pulled to his feet by his collar. He whimpered slightly in pain, trying to shift to a more comfortable position. This hurt and he did not like it at all. The person looked shocked at first, but then his eyes narrowed, and Byakuya saw him smile behind the cloth covering his mouth. He did not like the look of the smile. It was scary.

"Eh? Looks like I got lucky." Byakuya's eyes widened in horror, trying to pull away from the rough hand, only to be pulled even closer, now that he was almost nose-to-nose with the person. "I'll be back for you, just you wait." He was released, and scrambled back to his little corner, hyperventilating and watching in shock as the person leapt out the window, pausing to turn around and wave. "Ja ne, Kuchiki!"

He tugged the blanket over himself, shaking. He could not go back to sleep, no matter how much he tried. Every time, he would sit back upright, feeling his collar being tugged by the rough hand that was not there, taking in short, shallow breaths. And his face hurt a little. He hugged at his knees, trying his best not to cry. Okaa-san was no longer around, and the bad guy was going to come back. He sniffed and wiped his eyes on the blanket. He could hardly wait for Kyouraku-san to come back. Kyouraku-san was big and nice and warm, and would be able to fight off the bad guy.

* * *

She slid open the shoji door, taking a step into the room, meeting the eyes of a very frightened Kuchiki Byakuya. It was him alright. She definitely recognized that face. "Yo, Bya-bo." He muttered a weak "Demon Cat," in return, and she frowned. This was very unlike him. Was it the knowledge that his parents were not going to come back that was doing this to him? Moving over, she made to give him a hand, but a flash of fear came into his eyes as he shied away from her hand.

"What's the matter?" He shook his head, obviously startled, chewing nervously on his lip as widened eyes looked around the room. "K-Kyouraku-san?" His voice was soft and pleading, as though something had just happened which had nearly frightened the life out of him. Yoruichi's eyes narrowed. There was something more to what Shunsui had told her, and if she found out that he had deliberately left out something, he was going to pay.

"Yes, Bya-kun?" The pink haori stood in the doorway, and a second later, found himself with an armful of sobbing kid. Patting him awkwardly, Shunsui met Yoruichi's questioning gaze, shrugging. The last time he had checked, the little one had been asleep, or at least, had his head resting on his knees, and as far as Shunsui was concerned, that was asleep.

The kid was muttering something through sobs, but Shunsui could not quite catch whatever he was saying. When the little one gradually calmed down, he was clutching onto Shunsui so tightly that it stunned all the people in the room. It was then that he noticed the open window. He was absolutely sure he had closed it before he had left the room, and the window was way too high for the boy to reach. Something was wrong. Eyes narrowing, he gently placed Byakuya back on the floor. "What happened, Bya-kun?"

There was a sniff, and the boy moved to rub his eyes on the blanket, to be hastily interrupted by a handkerchief courtesy of one Shihouin Yoruichi. Taking it and mumbling his thanks, he sniffed again, and found another handkerchief his nose. "Blow." When he was done, he looked up at Shunsui, chewing his lip nervously, eyes darting around the room in apprehension.

There was a small cut on his face that had not been there before, and Shunsui was about to get very, very angry at whoever had done it. (Unless of course, it had all been an accident and he had merely fallen, trying to open the window. That was not likely, seeing as there were no props with which the boy could even try to open the window with.)

Yoruichi gave him a reassuring hug, and he began. "There… there was this sound outside the window, and I woke up and this person wearing all black came into the room and I covered myself with the blanket and he came over and took the blanket off and grabbed my collar and he asked for my name and I told him and then he looked angry and hit me and then he looked happy and then he left."

A pause, before he flung himself at Yoruichi. "And he said he was going to come back for me! I'm scared, Yoruichi-san! What did I do this time? I don't know who that person was but he was scary and Okaa-san's not around anymore." He whimpered softly, burying his head in her stomach region.

Shunsui cursed. If it had been anyone with reiatsu, he would have sensed it. He had not been drunk, merely sleeping lightly in the next room. As such, any minute change in reiatsu would have been sensed by him. He was pretty damn sure about that. The fact that he had not sensed anything meant that there had not been any reiatsu fluctuation. Now, why and how would any non-reiatsu possessing person be in his house? Something was going on that he did not like. He needed to talk to Jyuu, and soon.

Could he leave Bya-kun with Yoruichi? He trusted her abilities completely, but he was not sure if the boy did. However, given the way he was currently attempting to hide away in Yoruichi's stomach, which was not really working, it would be safe to assume so. "I'm going to go look for Ukitake, okay? You'll be alright with Yoruichi, Bya-kun?" A slight nod as the little one wiped at his eyes, slightly embarrassed but still pale and looking half frightened to death.

Whoever that was, he was going to pay.

* * *

"What do you mean, Kurotsuchi taicho?"

"I mean exactly what I said, Unohana taicho. His reiatsu levels should be back to normal by now, so there technically should be nothing preventing him from returning to normal."

"Then what is preventing him from returning to normal?"

"If you ask me, I'd say some mental problems, perhaps? Or maybe he's just plain unwilling to go back. Very simple really. There's a possibility that he just doesn't need that level of reiatsu yet, so he hasn't drawn upon it, which would be the reason why absolutely nothing has happened."

"And this would have nothing to do with the side effects of your invention that I heard about?"

"My liquid was meant to suck the reiatsu, and perhaps his body ended up overcompensating. I assure you, Unohana taicho, there was no conscious effort on my part, or any of my staff, to cause such problems. I prefer all inventions to have few side effects, or if possible, none at all."

"You are sure about this, Kurotsuchi-san?"

"Perhaps… There is a possibility that both the Hakusui and Saketsu were disturbed, possibly damaged, but I have not encountered this in the numerous trials conducted. Of course, the trials were conducted on specially modified rats, so there is a possibility for error."

"And it was still accessible?"

"The liquid was in its developing stages, and was not ready for release or usage yet. What happened was an unfortunate incident which would not have happened if the bastard had kept his reiatsu down a few more notches instead of blowing up the device I just spent four whole weeks working on."

"I am referring to the source of reiatsu, Kurotsuchi-san."

"My apologies. Yes, even if the Hakusui and Saketsu are disturbed and possibly damaged, they should be accessible. Since Kuchiki Byakuya does not seem to be dead, then it is most likely that they were not severely damaged. As such, after time, it would be natural for them to heal back to their original states, as you well know, Unohana-san."

"Ah. I thank you for your time, Kurotsuchi-san."

"The pleasure was all mine. I thank you for the data, Unohana taicho."

* * *

"And your report?"

"There was nothing remotely interesting in the Kyouraku manor, sir. However, the Kuchiki kid was in one of the rooms, completely unguarded."

"The Kuchiki kid, you say?"

"Yes, sir."

"Absolutely sure?"

"The faint reiatsu was unmistakable, sir."

"If I find out you are lying to me..."

"No, sir. I would never dare to lie to you, sir."

"You had better not."

A short pause.

"If I make take my leave, sir?"

"Granted."

"Thank you, sir."

"Well done."

"My life to serve, sir."

"As it should very well be, Akiyama. As it should very well be."


	13. Revelations

Yoruichi looked around the room. It was empty, with only a small pit in the middle of the room for a fire, a dying fire, mind you. This would mean that there was nothing that they could do. Bya-kun might not get bored, since he was still trying to gather his nerves, but she sure was. "Ne, Bya-kun, do you want to go to Sixth Division?" He nodded slightly, gripping onto the blanket.

Scooping both him and the blanket up, they shunpoed away, and were soon at Sixth Division. It was still early, so there was hardly a soul about, and of those, none of them were fast enough to see the Goddess of Shunpo at work. Her little cargo was rapidly turning green, which was rather surprising, but the color returned to his face when they neared Sixth Division, his eyes sparkling happily.

They entered the empty Division, quickly passing through the lieutenant's office. Thank goodness Renji was not there. The captain's office was equally empty as they stepped in, the little boy having let out a happy "Otou-sama!" as they had entered the room, only to come face to face with an empty room. He turned to face her, widened eyes and a confused look on his face. This one seemed to have a tendency to lapse back into relative immaturity when emotional.

Oh. He had not realized yet? _"That makes sense, Yoruichi. No wonder he's so afraid of nearly everything. Let's give a guess, shall we? Lemme see. How old do you think he is?"_ Her brain muttered snarkily. Oh! Oh. Now, how to phrase this? It turned out that she did not get the chance to say anything, her thoughts interrupted by the boy.

"Otou-sama…"

He chewed his lip, looking up from the ground. "What happened to Otou-sama? Did the current captain…" His eyes flashed angrily before he continued. "Did the current captain kill Otou-sama?"

Okay then. He really did not know. He really did not know. This was not going to be easy. She could just imagine what was going to happen when he came into contact with the Elders. Or his younger sister. Or Abarai. It was going to be tough.

"Bya-kun." He looked up at her, jaw clenched. "The current captain did not kill your Otou-sama." Another pause as she debated about how to phrase her next statement, watching him relax slightly, before the confused look came back to his face. How was she supposed to phrase her next sentence in a polite, dignified and completely fluff-ified manner? Ah, screw it. If the kid was old enough to understand what it meant that someone was dead, then he was certainly old enough to be talked truthfully to.

"What year is it, Bya-kun? What year is it in the real world?"

"Eighteen Eighty Five."

"It's not." A pause as she took in a breath, meeting smug grey eyes with her own amber ones. It hurt more than she was willing to admit, for her to say the next sentence.

"It's already the new millennium." She watched as his eyes widened in shock, a horrified look on his face.

"But… But… It can't be!" His voice rose to a yell. "It can't be! It was eighteen eighty five two days ago! I know because Okaa-san made me…" His eyes took on a haunted look at the mention of okaa-san, quickly swiped away in his anger.

"And… and… and…" He looked at her, taking in her real world dressing, the orange sweatshirt and black tights, a distinctive lack of the black shihakusho or the other garment. "You're not… Fifth's not? Ojii-sama…" His voice took on more than a hint of terror, his words quicker as she shook her head.

"What happened?! What happened, Yoruichi-san?! What's going on? Why… It can't be! I'm… I should… I should be…" He looked up at her, lost, confused and more than a little afraid. His voice lowered again, to the soft, lost tone.

"I should be a captain by now. Ojii-sama said… But I'm not… Yoruichi-san?" He tugged at her sleeve. "What happened? I…I…I…"

She moved over and gave him a hug, not knowing what to say. It was a bony hug, because he was rather skinny for his age, but a hug nonetheless. He slumped into a bony heap, eyes downcast. "They're really… dead?" He got no response, no visible response, and began to sniff. He could feel the tears coming, and hurriedly wiped at his eyes with the handkerchief. Sniffing, he looked around the office. It looked the same, no change from the last time he had seen it. Did that mean that Otou-sama had not been… gone for long?

"Yoruichi-san?" He waited for her to look at him, because it felt funny when people talked to you whilst looking behind you. It made him feel like he was not there. "Who's the Sixth Division Captain now, after…"

Yoruichi was about to answer, when the door slammed open roughly. Renji stood at the doorway, Zabimaru half out of his sheath, looking serious. "Kuchiki-tai…"

His face relaxed slightly when he saw Yoruichi, though he lost none of the tenseness when he saw the cowering kid on her lap. Bya-kun had lunged at her in fright as the door slammed open, and had buried his head in her stomach region, trembling in fear.

Renji blinked.

Firstly, it was eight in the morning and Kuchiki-taicho was not in the office. The man was usually there at six, if not five thirty, and if Renji so much as came in one minute later than eight am sharp, he would get it for the rest of the day. It being the paperwork.

Secondly, Kuchiki-taicho had yet to return from that divisional inspection, which technically, should have seen him done by latest, latest, six. Six pm yesterday. He had begun inspection at eight in the morning, after Renji had checked in, and had passed by the compound at ten. Surely, after taking two hours for five divisions, he should have taken about three or at most four more for the remaining seven. There was no need to inspect Sixth. The whole of Seireitei knew that it was up to standard.

Thirdly, he had heard the most ridiculous rumors about Kuchiki-taicho and Kurotsuchi-taicho duking it out in the Twelfth Division compound yesterday. Oh please, c'mon. If it were say, Zaraki, or even Soi Fong, he might have believed it. But Kuchiki-taicho? No freaking way. When hell froze over.

And lastly, Shihouin Yoruichi was sitting cross-legged, on the floor. In Kuchiki-taicho's office. With a little kid on her lap. In Kuchiki-taicho's office. With a little kid on her lap.

Now, if Renji had not be so sure that he was not drunk, he would have thought that it was the drink addling his mind and causing hallucinations. But no, he was not drunk, and no, he was not hallucinating. The poor kid looked frightened to death, and he hastily sheathed Zabimaru, moving over to sit down on the floor, across from Yoruichi and the kid.

"Hey." A smile came to his face as he reached out a hand to the little one, completely missing the warning looks being shot his way by Yoruichi. "I'm Abarai Renji. And you are?"

The little one slowly lifted his head from Yoruichi's stomach, turning to look at Renji, who was grinning happily like an idiot. Inwardly, he was marveling at the fact that the kid looked almost exactly like how he'd expect Kuchiki-taicho to look like had said taicho been about a hundred and fifty years younger or so.

Byakuya looked questioningly up at Yoruichi, who nodded, assuring him that Renji was a good person. Said cat mentally rolled her eyes. Gee, now that Shunsui wasn't playing daddy, she was playing babysitter/mother. This was completely not how she had expected to spend the day. She had expected to spend the day stone drunk somewhere in the Urahara Shop.

A small smile came to his face as he stretched out a hand to weakly shake Renji's. "Kuchiki Byakuya desu."

Renji blinked. And again. A hand reached backward to prevent him from falling backwards, his face paling a little as his eyes widened incredulously. No freaking way in hell. I mean, no. No. No. No. No. Kuchiki Byakuya could not be a kid. The almighty pompous being that was Kuchiki-taicho could not be sitting across him, in Shihouin Yoruichi's lap.

This was wrong on so many different levels. Utterly, completely, shockingly, horrifically, terribly, wrong. And his brain struggled to process it. This was the man he had been striving to beat even before he had entered the Gotei 13? But… "_Technically, Renji,"_ Zabimaru smirked, "O_ne would call a soul of his age a kid, not a man."  
_  
Renji was too stunned to reply. Instead, the hand that had reached backward crumpled, as he forgot about keeping himself upright. He toppled backwards in an undignified heap. "Nngh." There was a giggle and a chuckle, and Renji looked up from his position on the floor at a large shadow. A large, pink shadow. Three sets of waraji stepped over him, before he collected his wits and sat back up. He had a bad feeling about this.

The kid was giggling madly, his red-rimmed eyes now sparkling with laughter. Yoruichi was smirking at him, and oh crap… Kyouraku-taicho was chuckling merrily, Ukitake-taicho was grinning, and even Ise-fukutaicho raised an eyebrow.

Oh great. So it was pick-on-Renji day. Now, why in the heavens had no one thought to inform him? And he had thought that since his main tormentor was now in kid form, it would not have been pick-on-Renji day.

Oh well.

Apparently, some things never changed.

* * *

This one was kind of difficult to write, which is why it's so short. Hopefully, I'll be able to get my muse back for this one soon... It ran away and is throwing a temper tantrum somewhere on the other side of the globe...


	14. Family Can Be So Confusing

Renji found himself alone in Kuchiki-taicho's office, with a mini version of said taicho perched opposite him on the chabudai. There were a few key problems with this. Firstly, Kuchiki-taicho's office was more often than not, a self-imposed out-of-bounds area. That meant that he did not like going in, or staying in there. It gave him the creeps. Correction, Kuchiki-taicho gave him the creeps, and thus by extension, his office was intimidating.

And what had the others gone and done? They had disappeared off somewhere, muttering something about figuring out who had done it and why the little midget was still a little midget and not yet back to his old intimidating self. By what they were muttering, Renji could gather that the 'it' they were talking about was not the child-ification of one Kuchiki Byakuya, and was something different altogether. He was unbearably curious, but he had never been able to get anything out of Yoruichi-san before, and him not being that close to the other three meant that it would be even more difficult.

Renji was rather confused as to what had happened, seeing as none of them had deemed it important enough to inform him. He had no idea why Kuchiki-taicho was currently sitting in front of him in oversized clothing (severely oversized clothing), and looking as if he wanted to suck his thumb like any other little kid, but either did not dare to or had been forbidden to. In any case, Kuchiki Byakuya was not supposed to be small enough to sit on the floor and be half obscured by the chabudai, only the upper portion of his torso and his head visible. Renji wanted to know why, but no one had told him. And dear god, he really was going nuts. He was beginning to think that the rumors were actually true. (How could Kuchiki-taicho have engaged in a fight with Kurotsuchi-taicho? Nah, Renji. You must be going insane.)

In any case, here he was, watching little taicho happily splosh ink on paper in various shapes, strokes and pictures. It was amusing, really, but he was bored. Really bored. He was not an art person, and he certainly would not and could not appreciate splotches of ink. No way. Sitting back, he sighed, before wincing slightly when he noticed that there were now five new ink stains on the floor. Oh dear. When he came back, Kuchiki-taicho was going to be so… Oh. This was Kuchiki-taicho. Right. All these changes and stuff were rather confusing. He understood, but somehow, it had not really sunk in yet. Nope, not sunk in.

He vaguely wondered when it would sink in, when a small inky hand tugged at his thankfully black shihakusho. "Yes?" He flashed a big grin, still wondering what to address his taicho who was no longer a taicho by. Kuchiki-san made him seem disrespectful, and Kuchiki-sama was just plain not for little kids. Kuchiki-kun was definitely out. It was just queer. Just queer. Now, that left using taicho's first name, and that was a territory in which Renji was rather unsure in. He could count on one hand when he had referred to taicho by his first name. (Yeah, zero is countable on one hand.)

"Wanna play?"

A happy grin met Renji's. Byakuya decided there and then, or rather, he had decided earlier on, that he liked the funny red-haired man. Abarai-san seemed like a nice person, and since Yoruichi-san had said that he was a nice person as well, then he had to be a nice person. Or at least, he really seemed like a nice person, not like all of those queer people who tried to pretend to be nice to him at all those big parties that were not really parties because no one had fun at those.

"P-Play?" Renji blinked, surprised for the third time that day. Or rather, that hour. But still surprised, in any case. A gleefully happy affirmative nod brought yet another confused look to his face.

"B-But, what can we play?"

Now, don't get him wrong, he did not mind playing with the little kid, but he was unsure as to how. How was he supposed to treat the kid? Like a normal one? Or like some untouchable porcelain statue? (Everything logical pointed to treating him like an untouchable porcelain statue, but that did not particularly appeal to him. That and he was known to not follow the rules too well anyway.)

"Hm…"

A finger went to his lower lip as Byakuya thought about that. Usually Okaa-san came up with the play ideas, and sometimes Yoruichi-san when she was around. He did not normally think about those, because they were never as fun as when Okaa-san thought about them. But now that there was no one else except Abarai-san, then he was going to have to think up of the ideas. It did not look like Abarai-san was very good at thinking up ideas because he looked surprised, and Otou-sama said that people only looked surprised when they were not smart enough to notice things.

Speaking of noticing things, a happy grin came to his face. Renji looked nervously over. He had just proven earlier that Kuchiki-taicho, even when younger than usual, was still dastardly at heart. As such, he was not too willing to take part in the little devil's plans. Not at all. But did he have a choice? Nope. He had never really had a choice. Trying not to show his disappointment and regret at showing up early for work, he visibly relaxed when the little kid piped up happily.

"Scissors, Paper, Stone! Let's play Scissors, Paper, Stone, Abarai-san!"

Renji was too soft to decline, even though Scissors, Paper, Stone was a very childish game. He found himself seated across from the little one at the chabudai, right hand raised at his ear level as they played the simple, simple children's game. Seeing as he was a lieutenant, he was supposed to be relatively passable in strategy. He was supposed to be good. He was supposed to be better than the little kid in front of him. And there was no reason why he would be worse. No way. Yup. With that thought in mind, he chanted along with the bubbly happy kid.

"Scissors, Paper, Stone!"

No way. He stared in shock at the clenched fist opposite him, and then back at his own scissors. Mock-scowling, he raised a fist again, joining in the chant. He was going to win. Abarai Renji, lieutenant of the Sixth Division, was not going to lose in a game of Scissors, Paper, Stone. Nope.

"Scissors, Paper, Stone!"

Half an hour later found Renji completely and utterly flabbergasted. "Best of… How many are we at, Renji-san?" A little giggle before the all too happy Kuchiki Byakuya continued. "How many have you won?" Scowling (for real, this time), Renji refused to answer. It was below his dignity, below his manly ego for him to reveal how he had just been completely and utterly trashed by the mini-taicho. And here he had hoped to actually beat the man/kid in something. The gods were cruel. Really, really cruel.

The door opened slowly, but neither of them noticed, too caught up in playing Scissors Paper Stone to notice. (Renji was pre-occupied with attempting to win, and Byakuya was pre-occupied with trying to beat his record of thirty-five consecutive wins.) It was only when the door creaked when they looked up.

Upon hindsight, Renji figured that they looked hilarious like that, the little taicho sitting perched upon the chabudai, a look of complete surprise on his face, eyes glowing with happiness from winning the twentieth consecutive game. He, on the other hand, had been sitting back facing the doorway, and was looking utterly depressed from losing the twentieth consecutive game. Bleary-eyed, he turned to face the doorway.

And nearly got trampled when the little kid dashed at what seemed to be record speed off the chabudai and launched himself towards the person at the doorway, happily exclaiming, " 'Kaa-san!" Now, Renji had not even been alive when Kuchiki-taicho's okaa-san had been alive, that much he was pretty sure of, from what he had heard. As such, naturally, he would have no idea what Kuchiki-taicho's okaa-san had looked like. But there was one thing he was absolutely sure of, though.

Rukia was not his okaa-san. No freaking way in hell.

The above mentioned unseated member of the Thirteenth Division was stunned. It had been shocking to come across Renji sitting across a little boy in Nii-sama's office, playing what appeared to be Scissors, Paper, Stone. However, when said little boy had looked up at her with what was unmistakably Nii-sama's eyes, and then happily jumped at her proclaiming that she was his 'Kaa-san', she had been completely shocked, and almost dropped him.

Never mind the likeness to Nii-sama. That was not important. Rukia was absolutely sure that she did not have a kid. And since she did not have a kid, and had never adopted one, it would make perfect sense to then say that she was not anyone's 'Kaa-san'. And definitely not this kid's. "Ano," she began, trying to figure out what to say, (she had never been a really sociable person anyway) looking back at the kid who wiggled about uncomfortably, before dropping to the ground with a depressed look.

"You're not Okaa-san." Byakuya drooped visibly. And he had been so happy when someone with black hair had walked through the door too. Someone who… unfortunately, did not look at all like Okaa-san. Okaa-san was taller, quite a bit taller. And Okaa-san's hair was long, not short. Mumbling an apology, he ducked back towards Renji-san, who was a nice person, and who he knew. He dearly wanted to hide away somewhere and wait for Okaa-san to come back, because no matter what they all said, she was going to come back for him in the end anyway.

Rukia was absolutely sure that there was a story in here waiting to be told. And she was equally sure that Renji had absolutely no idea what was going on, which meant that she was just going to have to wait around until someone who knew what was going on appeared. (She was rather eager to find out, but yet apprehensive at the same time. Because if Renji was in the office, then Nii-sama would logically be in the office, but as it was rather apparent, he was not.)

But that was not why she had ventured all the way from the Thirteenth Division to the Sixth for. She had come to ask Renji if he had seen Ukitake-taicho, because according to Sentarou and Kiyone, or whatever she could get out of them through all the arguing and tearing out of hair in exasperation, said taicho had left early yesterday morning with a kid on his shoulders, and had returned without said kid but instead with both Kyouraku-taicho and Ise-fukutaicho. And currently, he was nowhere to be found. And that was bad. Not good at all.

"Renji?" She interrupted them, as the two had just gone back to a particularly interestingly one-sided match/game/tournament of Scissors, Paper, Stone, the little kid looking a little unhappier than he had before she had entered the room, but was gradually regaining the happy sparkle in his eyes. Said lieutenant turned around, looking slightly annoyed, but still not annoyed to the point that he was annoyed at her. "Hm? Oi, don't cheat, kiddo. I'm sure that was a Paper just now, not a Stone. Which means I just won that round, and you lost. Hah."

Byakuya wrinkled his nose and stuck out his tongue at Renji, before sitting back down on the chabudai, glaring at the lieutenant, but not saying anything. When Renji attempted to follow up on what he saw as a potentially lucky streak, Byakuya now gleefully pointed at Rukia, who was waiting for a response, albeit rather exasperatedly.

"Oh, Rukia, you were saying?" A wide grin now from Renji's direction, as he looked much happier than before. Rukia mentally rolled her eyes. Gee, it was so easy to make him happy? But in any case, she was curious to know whether Renji knew anything about where Ukitake-taicho had gone, and hopefully, anything about the kid situation. He had been out drinking with the others, so there was a possibility that he might know something. And there was no better way than to ask.

"Have you seen Ukitake-taicho? He hasn't been in his office or private rooms since this morning, when the two checked in."

"Yeah, he was here about an hour ago, but he left together with some others." Renji shrugged. "Dunno where they went though. Didn't seem to deem it important enough to tell me anything about that."

"What others?"

Rukia was genuinely confused. Although it was rather like Ukitake-taicho to be up at early hours, and then go around Thirteenth Squad barracks making a huge din and getting everyone else up as well, before preparing them for training which he was 'too ill to lead them in so they were just going to have to do as they saw fit from his instructions', it was not like him to wake early, and then leave the entire Squad still asleep. Nope, not at all. (And everyone thought he was such a wonderfully nice guy. Yeah right. He was nice, but not at five in the morning.)

"Well… There was Kyouraku-taicho, and Ise-fukutaicho… And… And…"

Renji scratched at his head. All this strategizing and cracking his brain to try and beat the kid had kind of wiped everything else out of his head for the time being, and he was having a hard time trying to remember. There had been someone else, he knew that there had been someone else laughing at him when he had fallen over, but for the life of him, he just could not remember who. (Very much like he could not quite remember what he had had the day before for lunch.)

"And Yoruichi-san!" Byakuya piped up happily. "Yoruichi-san was here just now, and they said something about going to see Unohana-san to pick up the results and to talk to her about something. It might be about the bad man who came into the room last night. I was scared but I'm not scared anymore, because Kyouraku-san says I'm safe." A big grin met hers as he hopped off the chabudai, remembering his manners.

"Kuchiki Byakuya desu. Dozo yoroshiku."

Renji frowned indignantly at the kid, because he was rather insulted that he had not gotten a nice polite greeting. Said kid merely turned and scrunched up his nose in distaste, sticking out his tongue once more before turning back to Rukia with a huge grin on his face, "My apologies about just now." He did a little shuffle thing which Renji half recognized as similar to that of Rikichi's, voice lowering to a mumble, "Thought you were Okaa-san," before bowing awkwardly, the grin still on his face (just a little smaller) as he looked back at Rukia.

Hoo boy. What a way to spring a surprise. Renji waited (and watched) with bated breath at the various expressions of shock in various degrees appeared and crossed Rukia's face. He tried to hold back a snigger. He tried to. It did not work. Taking in her look of absolute shock, the one with her eyes widening larger than usual, and with her mouth wide and gaping, he snickered. Loudly. Guffaws shook his body as for the second time that day, he toppled backwards, this time crashing into the chabudai, and pushing it backwards, still chuckling.

Byakuya, on the other hand, was confused. So far, everyone seemed to not know him, or seemed to be very shocked when he introduced himself. He wondered why. He knew that he was not very famous, yes, the Kuchiki name was famous, but then, Otou-sama was more famous because he was the leader of the Kuchiki clan, and Okaa-san was famous because Otou-sama was famous… but… Yoruichi-san had said that… But if they were not around, then who was in charge? It could not be him, right? He was too small. (He did want to be viewed as a big boy, but he knew he was not.) Pondering the question, he looked up at the lady, waiting for her to introduce herself. Maybe she was someone who knew what was going on.

"N-N-Nii-sama?!" Rukia choked out, stunned. Yeah, sure, the kid did have his eyes, or if she remembered correctly, that was. There had not been many times when she had looked at him after all. He had this rather intimidating air of I-am-holier-than-thou about him. Or rather, he had had such an air. He no longer had such an air, which was rather surprising. But other than that, and the nose and the chin and the general shape of the face, (Oh and the hair), he could easily be anyone else.

Byakuya looked around him for some bigger guy, but did not see one. And it did not look like Renji-san was the lady's Nii-san, so he did not really understand who the lady was referring to as 'Nii-sama'. "Who's your Nii-sama?" He piped up happily, bouncing up and down on the floor. "Is Renji-san your Nii-sama? Because there's no one else in the room…" He beamed up at her, impatiently awaiting an answer. It was funny that the lady looked shocked, but he wanted answers because no one ever told him anything, and he just wanted to know anyway. Renji-san really did not look like her Nii-sama. His hair was very, very red and hers was not.

Rukia was stunned. Completely and utterly shocked. Just… goodness. No way. Holy… There was no way the kid was him. There was no way. It couldn't be. How… She did not understand what was going on. (Well, no one had told her, but still, whoever said seeing was believing was probably a nutter. She was seeing, but she sure as crap was not believing. No freaking way.)

And as such, she did the only thing that her rather stunned brain could command her to do, which was to return his greeting and introduction with one of her own. On hindsight, that was a horrible, horrible idea, because it would only serve to confuse her and the little one (who was supposedly Nii-sama) even more. But she did it anyway, because the events happening were happening in real time, and there was no time in real time for hindsight.

"Kuchiki Rukia desu."

This time, it was his turn to stand there stunned, backing away from the doorway and tripping over the chabudai.

* * *

And again, I apologize for the delay in chapters. This one was particularly difficult to get through, but I hope it's a good one. Hopefully, the action (and the real plot) will start soon, so do bear with me in the meantime.

Cheers,  
Tani


	15. Out The Window!

"B-B-But..." Byakuya stammered, looking up at her from the floor, "I-I don't know you! I don't! And I know all of them! A-A-And…"

He slumped slightly, looking down at the ground. "Yoruichi-san said that this is the future. But I don't want it to be like that. I want to go back. I don't like it here." When he noticed that she was not going away, and instead was seemingly taking a greater interest in him, he looked back up at her, an unhappy look on his face. "Who are you and what do you want?"

Rukia was a little surprised at his reaction, but having calmed herself down, and attempted to relax, she answered honestly. Honestly in the sense that she had no idea who he really was, since there was no way he really was Nii-sama. However, if he insisted that he was indeed that person, then she would let him pretend. For a while, at least. The kid was rather cute. (Cute was Rukia's weakness, as obvious from her obsession with Chappy the Bunny.)

"I'm your sister."

"I don't have a sister." He glared back at her angrily, getting to his feet, calves connecting with the chabudai behind him. "You're not doing a very good job of stealing the family name if you do not even know that. _I_ am the only kid."

It was a valiant effort in defiance, but it did not work. Not at all. (Not on Rukia, at least.) She merely blinked, not believing her ears. Everyone from Rukongai to Seireitei, or nearly everyone, at least, knew that Kuchiki Byakuya did have a younger sister. Most did not know her personally, but some of them, if not all, knew her name. Oho. Now who was accusing who of stealing the family name? This kid did not know what he was talking about.

"What nonsense." Rukia glared at the kid. Who exactly did he think he was impersonating anyway? (Never mind the close resemblance to Nii-sama, this was downright disrespectful.) This was going a little too far. And why on earth was Renji not doing anything other than sitting there staring open mouthed? "Byakuya-sama adopted me into the family fifty years ago."

The kid blinked up at her, shock written all over his face. "I-I did? B-But I don't know you! I really don't!" His eyes narrowed dangerously after a short pause. "Why would I anyway? Why are you making up stories? Are you with that man? What do you want from me?"

"Me?" Renji had the good grace to look shocked, Rukia noted. The red-haired man sat there in shock. He had never expected something like this to happen. Sure, maybe an expression of surprise or happiness on the part of the littlest taicho, but not this. Definitely not this. To make matters worse, he had no idea how he could defuse the situation. It was not likely that taicho would listen to him.

"Not you!" The boy turned to Renji, eyes flashing with anger, and he could tell, with a little suppressed fear. "Not you! That man who invaded Kyouraku-san's house in the middle of the night! He seemed to know me too, but I don't know him! I don't know a lot of people, but they all seem to know me and want something! And I can't find anyone who will tell me anything! Okaa-san and Otou-sama aren't around, and Ukitake-san, Kyouraku-san, Ise-san and Yoruichi-san won't tell me anything!"

Rukia was now rather unsure. Yes, the kid could not possibly be Nii-sama, but that anger, that way of being able to completely swamp others in the room with something other than reiatsu, that presence… And the features were all exactly like his. Or rather, like how she would have expected them to be had he been a kid. She was having doubts. She did not like that. "Who are you?" She asked, frowning slightly. This would be a good chance to find out exactly what had happened.

"Kuchiki Byakuya." The kid glared back at her. "And I'm not supposed to be here."

"Oh?" Rukia was now even more confused than before. If she took his word for it, then this kid, who looked no older than well, any other kid, was Nii-sama. That was, if she took his word for it. And then, is she took his word for it, then he was also not supposed to be where he was. And if he was not supposed to be where he was, then where was he supposed to be? This she vocalized.

He gave her a look, seemingly wordlessly asking if she were stupid before deadpanning, "At home? In my own time?"

"In your own time?" Rukia knew that she seemed to be giving off an 'I'm really stupid' vibe, but information was information, and currently, she could not think of any other way with which to ask. "What do you mean by that?"

"It was Eighteen Eighty Five in the real world two days ago." His teeth clenched and he blinked rapidly, trying not to show his alarm and reluctance to accept the fact. "And Yoruichi-san said that it's not Eighteen Eighty Five there anymore." He met her gaze defiantly. "I don't belong here. I want to go back."

"Go back? Who wants to go back? Ne, Byakushi, where are you going? Eh? Where's Byakushi?" A gush of (pink) air from the open window ensued, when a little blur of black and pink whooshed into the room happily.

"Y-Yachiru-chan!" Mortified, Rukia crossed her fingers and hoped that Yachiru would not spill anything too embarrassing. Oh Kami, please…

"Midget-chan!" Renji suppressed a snort, smirking gleefully at the look of horror on Rukia's face.

Yachiru happily bounced up to Rukia, a wide smile on her face. "Midget-chan, have you seen Byakushi? Ken-chan took Pachinko head down to Rukongai for a drink yesterday and now they're both sleeping and I'm bored. Have you seen Byakushi?"

"Who are you?" Byakuya's eyes narrowed as he interrupted their conversation. He did not trust anyone who came in through the window, especially not this insanely fast pink demon. Not to mention, pink hair was unnatural, and so was her speed.

"Who're you?" Yachiru beamed as she shot back. She had not previously seen this person before, and while he did look like Byakushi, it seemed like he was a little version of Byakushi, much like Little Whitey-chan was like a little version of Big Whitey-chan.

He was about to retort that he had asked the question first, when he realized that it would be extremely childish of him to do so. That and there was some faker who was stealing the family name in the room. He was going to show her what it meant to be a Kuchiki. "Kuchiki Byakuya desu." He inclined his head slightly.

"UH?" Yachiru frowned confusedly. No one would lie about their name, especially not to her, because they always knew, so this was Byakushi? What a funny way to start out the day! A huge grin grew on her face as it finally hit her.

Now, they'd be able to play all those things that Byakushi had refused to play with her because he had been too big! Happily bouncing up to him, she grabbed his hand and proceeded to attempt to tug him out the window. "Play with me, Byakushi!" She was expecting reluctant acquiescence, or maybe an unhappy face and a curt "No", not what came next.

"Who are you, and why are you referring to me so… familiarly?" His eyes narrowed as he attempted to tug his hand out of the vice-like grip it was in. He did not like this one bit. Why did it seem that everyone seemed to know him on a more familiar basis than simply by name?

She blinked owlishly. "Ne, Byakushi, you forgot?" She frowned slightly. If Byakushi really could not remember, then she could tell him. "Kusajishi Yachiru, lieutenant of the Eleventh Division, under Ken-chan." She paused, pouting slightly, looking slightly irritated. (She had learned some of these skills from Booky-chan, and they had not failed her yet.) "Now can we play, Byakushi?"

"Play?" His scowled. "What are we going to play?"

A high pitched squeal of happiness interrupted his last statement as Yachiru gave him a flying hug. Which had he been his normal height and weight, he would have withstood easily. However, seeing as Byakuya was currently a little under a hundred and ten centimeters, he ended up, well, both of them ended up crashing into Renji behind them.

Hopping off him, Yachiru beamed happily, completely oblivious to the fact that Renji was a lot more winded than before, and that Byakuya seemed a tad annoyed. "Let's play tag!" She crowed happily, touching him lightly on the shoulder before zooming out the window at top speed.

He blinked. She was already standing on the rooftop of the next building, waving happily back at him. Now, how had she gotten up there? Scowling slightly, he launched himself out of the window, trying to do what Shihouin-sensei had taught him. Surprisingly, it worked. He had never done this before, but it came to him easily, almost as though he had done it before. It was easy, just like walking, except on air, and everything else. It was fun. He loved the view, the sensation of wind blowing in his face. A wide smile on his face, he laughed as he catapulted himself after Yachiru, leaping over shingles, on top of walls and around startled shinigami.

(Most of whom rubbed their eyes, trying to figure out when Yachiru had gotten a new playmate. The others wondered when Hitsugaya-taicho's hair had turned black, and when he had agreed to play with the pink demon of Eleventh Division.)

Yachiru beamed, ecstatic. It seemed like Byakushi was really as good at shunpo as they all said, and even though he was littler than usual, he still was rather good. Almost good enough to catch her, but not nearly that good yet. She dodged to a side as he reached out to tag her, sticking out her tongue good naturedly before shooting off, this time in the direction of Eleventh Division.

Meanwhile, Rukia and Renji were still stunned from the sudden departure of the two "shorter than Hitsugaya-taicho" people who had previously been in the room. The wind blew in from the open window, rustling at the papers on the desk, scattering some of them.

"Oh shit." Renji gaped at the open window before scrambling to reorganize the papers, stacking them back into their neat stacks, double checking for any ink stains. Rukia on the other hand, peered out the window, trying to locate where the two of them had gone. Surely it would not be too difficult to locate two children within the Sixth Division compound, right?

Wrong. For starters, as she looked around and attempted to sense for Yachiru's reiatsu, she was nowhere to be found. The signature was too far away to be properly pinpointed. And the kid who had claimed he was Nii-sama? Well, he seemed to have reiatsu, but she could not quite recall what the particular signature had been like, and thus was unable to even begin to track his reiatsu signature.

"We lost them?" Renji stuck his head out of the window, after he had managed to wrestle all the papers back into their original locations. Frantically looking around and trying to get a hold on their reiatsu (and Rukia was not at all surprised with he failed, because really, his control of reiatsu-related subjects was almost as bad as Ichigo's, which was saying a lot), Renji slumped when he came to that same realization. "Oh no," he moaned. "I'm dead. Yoruichi-san is going to kill me. I just lost Kuchiki-taicho."

"Pardon?" A voice echoed disapprovingly from the doorway. "Did you just say you lost Bya-kun?" Oh shit. Renji gulped, before he turned slowly to meet his fate at the hands of (he was certain it was Yoruichi) a very angry cat. Turned out, it was not an angry cat that met him, but two completely not amused taichos. "Oh shit," was all Renji could manage.

"What do you mean you lost him, Abarai-san?" Shunsui looked around him noting the notable absence of any little kid. Advancing on Renji, he continued. "Where did he go?"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Ukitake beamed happily upon finding Rukia in the room as well. "Yo, Kuchiki!"

"U-Ukitake taicho!" She did not seem to be too pleased to see him, almost afraid, which activated his 'I just did something wrong but I really don't want you to know' sensor. Something had happened, and although it did not seem too serious, because both Rukia and Renji were in the room and not somewhere else (as they would have been had someone turned up to kidnap little Bya-kun), Ukitake wanted to know.

"Did you see where Bya-kun went, Kuchiki? I don't think he ran off on his own." He did not add that the possibility was reduced because the little one had already attempted to run off earlier. Judging from the shocked look on her face, he (correctly) assumed that Rukia had not previously known that the boy had been Kuchiki-taicho. Oh well. At least there were qualified people around to help her handle the shock. He looked around the room. Right. Perhaps not.

"H-He… " She was temporarily lost for words. "B-But how? What happened? H-He's like… short… and… short…"

Smirking at her word choice, Ukitake gave her a moment (or five) to compose herself, while Shunsui chased Renji around the room. Poor Shunsui, when he was flustered a little more than usual, all those deductive skills that Genryuusai-dono had praised him for were rendered useless. As such, he had not come to the same conclusion as Ukitake had, regarding the departure of one little boy.

He paused a little more, to give Rukia some more time to gather her train of thought back, before proceeding to completely derail the train with the explanation. After giving her a very brief run through of the basics, casually omitting all the unnecessary details along the way, he grinned happily at the dawning look of comprehension on her face. "So, Kuchiki… Do you know where he went?"

Nodding eagerly, she pointed out the window.

Ukitake blinked.

* * *

My apologies for this... The chapters have been rather long in coming, and I can only blame my muse. (Any my reluctance to work on chapters of other stories once I've started.) Hope this is to your liking!

Cheers,  
Tan


	16. Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers!

"Yo, Kurotsuchi." Yoruichi leant casually against the door to the very familiar Twelfth Division compound. Goodness knew how many times she had visited Kisuke and his eccentrically insane helper back in those days. As of now, she was waiting for said eccentrically insane helper turned taicho to answer the door. Or the gate. Or the extremely complicatedly deviously dangerous gateway designed to eliminate intruders. Same thing.

"It's you." Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the freaky clown of the Gotei 13 stepped out from a wall. (Yoruichi still had no idea how he did that, and she knew that she probably did not even want to know anyway, knowing him.) Taking in her real world garb, his head cocked to a side in a way that Yoruichi figured only able to be done by the man in front of her. (Was he even technically still human, though? That was a whole new question.) "What brings you here, Shihouin Yoruichi?"

"I heard from a couple of reliable sources that you and Kuchiki were involved in some sort of fight a couple of days back?" She stopped leaning against the wall partly because that was rather informal and if she wanted to get things out of Kurotsuchi Mayuri, formal was the best way to go, and also partly because she did not like the idea that he might have merged with that stretch of wall. Eew. That thought in itself was disgusting and the possible implications even more so.

"Possibly," his grin grew slightly as he gestured towards the interior of the building. "Care to join me inside for a cup of tea?" The grin took on more of a sly look, and Yoruichi knew at once that this was not a good thing. From experience, tea meant different things in different divisions. Tea was only tea in the Thirteenth Division. (But then most people ended up spilling everything due to the lack of proper conversation starters, so unless you knew Ukitake Jyuushiro well, it was still tea with extra charge.)

"No thanks." She grew a feline grin of her own, leaning slightly towards him in a way that was slightly threatening. "I'm here for Senbonzakura."

"Kuchiki lost Senbonzakura? Oh what a tragedy. Convey my condolences if you would, Shihouin-san." Mayuri smiled, his mouth opening extra wide to reveal those freaky pearly whites.

Yoruichi rolled her eyes. When were these people ever going to learn? She did not have all the time in the world, contrary to popular belief. And she was not stupid either. It was not going to work, all this playing coy and whatnot. She had discussed it with the three most senior captains (with the exception of Yamamoto who did not actually count), and they, with their ultimate wisdom, had decided that the zanpakuto had to be with Mayuri. Well, even if it had not dropped during the fight, then they were sure that he would have done anything to get his hands on it, which would then make their job of recovering it a whole lot easier. Having reasoned it all out, Yoruichi had drawn the short straw (she suspected that Shunsui and Ukitake had cheated but had no evidence) and had been picked to confront the Great Slimy Bastard.

Leaning further forward, Yoruichi grabbed said taicho's collar. "Pass it over." Every syllable was laced with the right amount of poison. She knew that. After all, if it worked on Kisuke, it would naturally work on his subordinate who had been around when she had threatened him.

"It is not in my possession." Mayuri's grin grew slightly, diminishing slightly when she brought her glaring face closer to his threateningly. "It really is not in my possession." Noticing that Yoruichi was not backing off, he scowled slightly, twisting around such that his face was now facing the laboratories. Eyes flickering back to Yoruichi's frustrated expression and the dagger at his kidney, he sighed. "NEMU!"

Five seconds later, the Twelfth Division lieutenant appeared at her father's heels, head bowed slightly and calm as usual. "Hai, Mayuri-sama." Yoruichi did not know much about the man and his daughter, having never truly interacted with the two of them, but already she did not like the way he was treating her. Helloo, Nemu was a shinigami. Shinigami were souls. Like proper souls. That meant that they were human. Therefore, despite however it was that she had been conceived or created, she was still a human. And Mayuri did not seem to be treating her properly.

"Stupid girl. What took you so long? Is Akon handling the process? The subject was not disturbed, was it?" Mayuri's voice lowered slightly as he mumbled something about stupid reiatsu-leaking machines and idiots. He looked annoyed, and that only made Yoruichi even more annoyed. Goodness gracious. Was this how he was treating his division members? She did not want to think about it. Nope.

She cleared her throat, increasing the pressure on the skin over his kidney slightly. (Yoruichi could not quite remember exactly the moment when the dagger had been unsheathed. The only fact was that yes, it had been unsheathed and was now being used. Oh dear. And Ukitake had so kindly reminded her to not use force. Too late now then.) "Spill, Kurotsuchi."

He sighed again, looking more huffy and exasperated than annoyed or angry. "Nemu, fetch 75652 from the warehouse." Noting the lack of movement, he scowled. "Now." There was still no reaction, only that she lowered her head a little further. "NEMU? You dare disobey my orders?" He was annoyed now, Yoruichi was sure of it. He looked the part of insane clown thingy.

"Mayuri-sama, you previously ordered that no one be allowed within a ten meter radius of the warehouse." Nemu bowed a little more, facial expression not changing a jolt. (Gee, she and Bya-kun, the big grown up one, could compete for the ultimate prize of Iceberg. Yoruichi would bet on Nemu, because she knew ways with which she could either embarrass, enrage or amuse the Sixth Division taicho. But Nemu? She had no idea. Poor girl, under Mayuri's creepy, creepy eye.)

"Yes well, stupid girl, I am ordering you to go against that previous order and go fetch me 75652 now." Rolling his already rather screwed up eyes as Nemu disappeared back into the labyrinth that was Twelfth Division offices, he sighed again. "Please relinquish your grip, Shihouin-san. It is highly uncomfortable, and frankly, there is no need for such measures."

"You're just going to hand it to me? Just like that? No tricks, no sneaky tactics?" This was very unlike Mayuri, very unlike him indeed. Something was up. There was no such thing as a free lunch, and there was a reason why no one wanted to end up in Twelfth Division. Same thing. Yoruichi had her doubts, but never look a gift horse in the mouth, no? She was not about to ask him to do something. Nope.

She had been around genii, specifically one genius, enough such that she knew what they were like. They were unpredictable. Freakily unpredictable. She released him anyway, and he staggered backwards, looking huffier than before and attempting to straighten his robes. If Yoruichi did not know better, and was not so disgusted at the prospect, or the thought of the prospect, she might have assumed something not so innocent. But then again, helloo, this was Kurotsuchi Mayuri. Not on the market. No.

"Have a little trust in my abilities, Shihouin-san. I have already analyzed the components of Senbonzakura to my full abilities, though the data seems to evince the fact that it is merely an ordinary zanpakuto. Perhaps I should follow up with a study involving the zanpakuto wielders as well… Ah, Nemu. What took you so long?" There was a pause as his eyes narrowed dangerously as he took in her unarmed status.

"The item?" His tone lowered, and had Yoruichi not been a former taicho herself, she might have been intimidated by that tone of voice. However, taichos were all one level of nutters above all the others, and this tone of voice, maa, it was nothing. Especially not when it had been heard in the meeting room attempting to defend oneself against something really stupid like that time that… A shrill yell interrupted her reminiscing.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT THERE ANYMORE?!" She jumped slightly, blinking as Mayuri attempted to tower over Nemu. He did not exactly tower, but she cowered back a little. Now, Yoruichi did not like that. But she did not like the idea that Senbonzakura was missing even more. Nope, this was definitely not good. One's zanpakuto was one's soul. One did not just lose it. It was not merely misplaced. (Even though it did seem to be misplaced in this case. This was bad. Bad. Really bad.)

"M-Mayuri-sama, I checked the warehouse and the shelves adjacent to that, but it was not there. I even checked with Akon, who stated that you were the last one to handle it." His jaw clenched as he began pacing up and down the open space. Yoruichi assumed that it was the sheer freakiness that was exuding from him that was keeping curious division members away. If this were Eleventh, there would be a whole mob.

"So…" It was not often that you got to poke barbs at Kurotsuchi Mayuri, so Yoruichi intended to use this opportunity to her best ability. "You've lost it? You've lost Senbonzakura? I assume you do know that he is currently in the protective custody of both Kyouraku and Ukitake-taicho," the two names seemed to make him a little more flustered and annoyed, "as well as under the watchful eye of Unohana-taicho."

There was a low growl. Yoruichi knew that Mayuri hated admitting defeat almost as much as he hated incompetent idiots, which was a lot. "Fine," he snarled. "I've lost the blasted thing." His jaw clenched almost bracing for a tongue-lashing, almost daring her to speak up and taunt him some more, but Yoruichi was no longer looking at him, instead taking a closer look at the structure of the buildings.

Rolling his eyes, he bit back a snarl of frustration. Just what was the woman playing at? Firstly, if she was not the one in charge of Kuchiki, then why was she so concerned? Was it because she had been dragged into this, or whatever was going on that even he Kurotsuchi Mayuri had no idea about, by the two most devious captains in Soul Society, Kyouraku and Ukitake? Secondly, since she was not supposed to be here, and he did have a record for telling the truth just for kicks, why was she the one trying to get something from him? Was it because she believed that she could blackmail him into staying silent or something? Hmph.

Yoruichi however, was busy attempting to figure out how whoever had gotten it had gotten in. She had a bad feeling about this, because the only member of the Gotei 13 who was remotely sneaky enough to want to get hold of Senbonzakura was the one who had just lost it. Something was up, and she did not like it, not one bit. Her instincts left over from leading the Onmitsukido were screaming. They were screaming, protesting and creating a racket. And they had not been wrong yet. She was jittery, and she was jittery for a reason.

Amber eyes flying all around the compound, she leapt nimbly to the rooftop, perched there, reiatsu suppressed and surveying the area. A flicker of something quite a distance behind her caused her to whirl around. Leaping off the rooftop and dashing towards the flicker, Yoruichi left a stunned Kurotsuchi Mayuri gaping at her leaving shadow. This was going to be interesting, no? She had many questions she wanted to ask the person when she caught up to him. There was something going on, no doubt about it.

Someone out there wanted something from them, and she was not sure that they were ready to give it up.

* * *

Buckle your seatbelts and grab onto your seats! The action has just begun... Hope you'll have a good ride with the Express!

Cheers,  
Tan


	17. Scary Things Come In Small Packages

"Ne, Byakushi, can't keep up?" Yachiru grinned before rushing off and leaving Byakuya in a puff of dust. Little feet pattered over rooftops, on walls and around crowds as they resumed the chase around the inner districts of Rukongai. Ken-chan had always told her not to go too far out because then it took too much time to get back for lunch. Lunch! Her grin broadened as her stomach growled slightly. It was time for lunch! Veering off the dusty roads, she took off in the direction of Seireitei. Or at least, the direction which she assumed was Seireitei.

Eleventh Division was somewhere around there, and so was lunch.

* * *

Byakuya pouted inwardly, a scowl going to his face as he fought to catch up to the pink demon streaking far ahead. Sure, he could keep the same speed as her, but to go any faster and catch up? That was a difficult task. Muttering quick apologies to yet another apple merchant about yet another fallen apple cart, (Apples did not seem to like him), Byakuya side-stepped yet another pedestrian and rushed after Yachiru.

Hm… What time was it now? It seemed kind of late. Lunch should be just around the corner. Although he was having fun and here he pouted again when he narrowly missed a clothesline (were these things out to get him or what?), he was getting hungry. That and he did not recognize the place, so that meant that they were not in Seireitei. Which meant that there was no food around.

As they entered an area with less people, Byakuya was getting a little worried. This was not where Seireitei was, was it? Seireitei had lots of people and big… what was the word for the funny stone again? Never mind the word, it had big tall walls, and the Tower of Penitence was very, very obvious. Where they were heading, he could see nothing more than flimsy roofs and few people. Grassland and a few rice plantations surrounded the area, and the roads were no longer as well-traveled. Could it be that they were not getting nearer to Seireitei at all? It sure seemed like it to him.

"Kusajishi-san!" His stomach growled in a rather un-noble fashion and a sheepish grin came to his face. It was rare that he was actually hungry, but it was probably because he was having so much fun. Looking ahead, Kusajishi-san seemed to be still running and did not seem to have heard him, so he raised his voice a little, calling again.

"Kusajishi-san! Are we going the right way? I think Seireitei is that way!" He pointed towards the towers in the distance once they both had scaled rooftops, turning his head slightly. This shift in concentration nearly cost him his balance, tabi scrabbling against the roof for grip.

A happy giggle came from Yachiru before she stopped a distance away to wait for him. Catching up in a flash (literally), he stopped a block away, when there was a sudden prickling at the back of his neck. There seemed to be someone there, although he was not quite sure how he knew that. The prickling seemed to indicate someone menacing, and some how, he had a bad feeling about what was going to happen. He saw Yachiru's eyes widen, looking at someone behind him. Slowly, he turned around, making sure not to lose his balance.

And then nearly fell off the roof in shock, instinctively backing away.

"You!" A frightened look entered his eyes as he stumbled backwards, nearly falling off the roof for the second time. He recognized this person. Yes, he did. There was the something else related to the prickling on the back of his neck that recognized the person, and he also recognized the barely visible features behind the cloth. He knew that man. It was the ninja person who had appeared just a few hours before. Taking in deep breaths, he attempted to calm himself down, before hissing, "What do _you_ want?"

To his annoyance and slight fear, the man started chuckling. Byakuya did not like that. He did not like the man at all, and did not trust him. But the fact that the man had caught up to him in the middle of Rukongai, and seemed perfectly at ease, made _him_ uneasy. And he did not like feeling uneasy. Glaring warily at the man, Byakuya backed away slowly, a foot at a time, gaining a sure footing before taking another step. He did not like this at all, especially since he did not have that much confidence being able to out run this person. He could not outrun _Kusajishi-san_, how could he possibly outrun a full grown adult?

"Oh, nothing, really. I was merely in the vicinity and decided to see you. Nothing wrong, eh, Kuchiki? Or should I say, Byakuya-_kun_?" His grin was downright predatory, threatening in the sheer menacing aura that it seemed to exude, although his tone was not as cold as it could have been. (Yachiru had the feeling that she was being ignored, but that did not matter. What mattered was that there was this person who seemed to know Byakushi, but that Byakushi did not like. Then again, Ken-chan always said that battles were fought one on one, so it was not her place to butt in.)

Byakuya took a few more steps backwards, glaring back at the person but not speaking. This was like one of those traps that the sensei had mentioned in class about baiting. The person was trying to bait him to say something he would regret, but he was not going to fall for it. He was not. He glared again, eyes taking in the person's appearance. The person seemed to be dressed in pretty much the same way as a few hours back, the only difference being that where he had been unarmed, he now held a katana in his hand. A katana that seemed almost familiar. But why would it seem familiar?

Seemingly noting his eyes flickering to _the_ katana, the man's eyes glinted dangerously, a smirk forming behind his cloth mask. "See something you like, Byakuya-kun?" He held the katana up, the smirk widening as he waved the katana around carelessly. Something about that made Byakuya angry. He did not know why. He was just angry at the careless manner in which the katana was being treated. It was as if he could know what the katana was feeling. It was a… different feeling, something he was not sure he disliked at all.

"Recognize this?" The katana was waved a little more, and Byakuya could see the light purple hilt wrap, the square guard divided in four quarters, the length and even the width of the sheath. It felt very familiar. It felt as though it would fit perfectly in his hand, even though he knew that he had never actually held such a breathtakingly beautiful katana. He wanted the katana; he really, really wanted it, more than he had ever wanted anything in his life. And he did not know why he wanted it so much, which should have scared him. It would have, had he paused to think about it for even a moment. Even so, he was too stunned to move away, instead taking a few steps towards the man. Byakuya wanted the katana, and he was going to get it.

The smirk widened on the man's face as he noted the expression on the boy's face. So this was what it was like, eh? Shinigami and their zanpakutos. Those were said to be part of them, a part of their soul and oh, this was wonderful. The things they could make the frigging noble do with this power. And it was power, what he was holding in his hand. "You want it?" He smirked triumphantly at the semi-stunned look on the Kuchiki's face as he dangled the katana tantalizingly from one of his fingers. "This is Senbonzakura. Familiar name, Byakuya-kun?"

It was familiar, but in a way that he could not quite recall. It was not a past kind of familiar. It felt as though it was dyed to his bones. He knew that this katana, the name, this Senbonzakura, this was something. It was something that he should know, and it frustrated him not to know why he did not know. It really did. But perhaps… perhaps if he held the katana, perhaps if he took it, if he took it and made it his and spoke to it, perhaps it would tell him. That was the feeling the katana was giving to him. He did not know why. It was impossible for the katana to speak to him. It was simply impossible, yet why did it feel like it would? Like _she_ would?

Almost there. Almost there. Once the boy got close enough, never mind the plans, he would be able to capture the kid and speed up the process. Itakura-dono would then get what he wanted in a shorter period of time, instead of that long drawn-out plot to target a more difficult target. The arrival of a much softer, easier, dumber target; it seemed like the heavens had just granted them a gift. His smirk slowly widened into an outright grin as the boy took another step. _Yeah, come to daddy…_

Byakuya could just reach it. He could just reach the katana, just wrap his little hand around the hilt that was sure to be too big but he swore gave him the feeling that it was just right for his grasp. He could almost reach it, when a scabbard slammed down on the back of his hand and a hand grabbed his collar, yanking him backwards and away from the man whom he had forgotten was still there. He had had eyes only for Senbonzakura, the katana whose name felt so tantalizingly familiar, if only he could know why. A whack to the side of his head by something put a halt to those thoughts.

Yachiru did not like this. Ken-chan had always said that it was no good to take things from strangers, and since this seemed to be a stranger to Byakushi, something which she had only just figured out, that meant that he should not be taking the katana from the other guy. Even though the name of the katana and the katana itself seemed to be familiar, it was still no good to take things from strangers. Ken-chan had always said that, and Ken-chan was always right.

Sticking her tongue out at the stranger, she slung the unconscious Byakushi on her shoulder much like she would carry Ken-chan or Pachinko head or Feather brows when they got injured, and shot off away towards where he had pointed earlier. Seemed like Byakushi did have a good sense of direction, something which Ken-chan said she did not have. Oh well, not her fault. Ken-chan had the most horrible sense of direction anyway. It was his fault.

A snarl of fury formed on Katsu's face. How dare the little brat interfere?! He had nearly gotten his prize, very nearly gotten the prize, after all that hard work, after all the planning, he was finally going to be able to get out of damn Itakura's grasp earlier than planned, and the damn brat… How dare she?! Who did she think she was? Swearing, he rushed after her, but damn, she was fast. He did not want to admit it, but this little brat was fast, much faster than the ordinary ones. She was pushing at his limits just to keep up, and he knew that it was one of the fastest there was.

His foot sunk through yet another rotten wooden roof as they leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Damn brats, they were much too light to even compare to his average weight, and there were places they could step on that he could not. Katsu could not even begin to describe how much that irked him, he could not. He hated it so much. Beaten and outwitted by a couple of brats? He, Akiyama Katsushige, was never going to rest until he caught up with the brats and beat them till they begged for mercy. Furious, he stepped up his pace, kicking back on the rotten wooden structures harder and faster, rushing through the wind, fighting past the enraged passersby. Damn them. Since when was there another shrunken figure in the Gotei 13 anyway?

He was not completely up to date with the goings on that rotten corrupt structure, anyway. Why would it matter to him, he who had chosen to forsake that path, to turn his back upon all those ridiculously nonsensical notions that they attempted to brainwash their _oh so wonderful_ shinigami with? Why would it matter to him? It did not. And that was simple. It did not matter to him. The goings on did not matter, he did not bother to remember the others besides a select few which Itakura-dono had deemed to be important. They were trash, manipulated trash. Unimportant.

And so, it was very likely that he would not have heard of one Kusajishi Yachiru, who had entered Seireitei on the back of one very violent, almost feral Zaraki Kenpachi. He had not, obviously. He had no idea where she had come from. It had not even registered in his mind that the black shihakusho she was wearing was just that, a black shihakusho, uniform of the shinigami of the Gotei 13. Neither had he noticed the armband, the armband with the fierce Eleven. Of course not. He was too taken with his anger, too furious, concentrating too hard on catching up, on keeping up, of surpassing, that these were details that he did not note.

He almost did not note their entry into the higher districts of Rukongai until it was too late. Almost. As they blended smoothly into the crowd, and when Katsu lost track of them, it was then that he noticed that they were in fact worlds away from the lower districts, worlds away from the rotten shacks, from the dying people, from the wide, open, merciless grasslands. Another snarl of fury escaped him as his eyes blazed with anger. But it was futile. It was too late. They were gone, and it was too late to follow them. No matter. He would just stick to Itakura-dono's plan. It was slow, but it would work. It was going to work. He would make it work.

Hands clenched around the hilt of the sword as he calmed himself down, a sneer coming to his face. The goddamn noble was out of his grasp for the time being, but he still had this, the trump card. Itakura-dono's trump card. He had it, and he had the intelligence of Itakura-dono behind him, the support of Itakura-dono and even some of his own men. And this time, they were going to win. They were going to win.

Yachiru did not like that man. Why did he seem so angry when Byakushi did not take the katana, that Senbonzakura? That was not very normal, was it? It did not make any sense to her. People were supposed to be happier when they had their precious things with them, and not when they gave them away, though Ken-chan said that there were people out there who were happy from giving away things, called charity. But he also said that those people were good people, and that man did not seem like a good person. Not at all. She did not like him, and she did like a lot of people, even Clownface, who everyone else said was bad. She thought he was funny, not bad.

In any case, the bad man was slow. Slower that Byakushi, quite a lot slower. He seemed a lot angrier though, so maybe that made up for it. Looking behind her, and nearly flinging Byakuya to the floor in the process, Yachiru happily noted that the bad man was no longer there. Yippee. And they were in time for lunch to. Happily waving to the Big, Big Shinigami, she hopped through the gates, only to come face to face with more walls and corridors. Hm… now which way was Eleventh again? She was sure Feather Brows had told her once, something about going straight then turning left and then walking straight some more except that the path turned on its own and then turning right and following the sounds or something like that. Except that she could not quite remember what way that was.

Oh dear. They were going to be late for lunch. Very, very late for lunch.

* * *

"You're saying he jumped out of the window?" Ukitake Jyuushiro was a patient, understanding person. Yes, he was the perfect mediator and listening ear. The best that Seireitei could offer. As such, he was not nearly as shocked as his best-friend-cum-comrade-in-arms Kyouraku Shunsui. Not nearly being a severe understatement. Not flustered the least, he sat there calmly, the same kind smile on his face as normal, while the sake-loving pink-clad mountain of sake bottles next to him keeled backwards.

Rukia nodded. Renji was too traumatized and too startled to respond to anything, busy sitting there and staring at a spot that Jyuushiro estimated to be about two meters behind his head. Oh well, Shunsui could be oddly persuasive at times. Or not. But now was not the time to think about it. He cleared his throat, inwardly groaning at the concerned looks he was getting from the other occupants of the room. Please, just because he cleared his throat did not mean he was going to collapse in another coughing… he refused to think of that phrase, refused to jinx himself. In any case, how was a man supposed to draw attention to himself?

But now that he had their attention, for the wrong reasons, he spoke, again. Why did it seem that no one else in the entire room currently had the capacity and the ability of speech? "Could you clarify, Kuchiki? What exactly do you mean by he jumped out of the window? He jumped out after what? Away from what? Doing what? Where did he go after that? Was there anyone outside the window? Did anyone come here? Why did one of you not follow him? What actually happened?"

Well, that was a lot of questions, but he had deemed it necessary, all these questions were necessary to get the full story out of poor traumatized Rukia. Renji was way passed traumatized, so there was no point in talking to him. He sat there, purposefully not meeting Rukia's eyes. Over his long tenure as a captain, he had found that there were two ways to extract information. The hard way, and the soft way. The hard way, well, it did not seem to work when he tried it, partly because he was neither menacing nor violent enough or even meant all those threats.

The soft way, however, he was a master at that. A true master. Second to only Unohana-sempai. But that was saying a lot already, especially since Unohana-sempai was so scary. But in any case, not looking at Rukia would bring about the same effect as glaring at her, in his case. And so, he sat back, took a sip of tea, waited for her to begin, and promptly splashed a mouthful of tea onto the table once she had begun.

"WHAT?!"

* * *

Again, my sincerest apologies for the delay. This chapter was a little difficult to write in the beginning, but by the end, things got a lot better. Hope you guys will like it!

Cheers,  
Tan


	18. Begin

Yoruichi skidded to a halt, scowling fiercely at the man who she had been following. He stood opposite her on a rooftop arms akimbo, a slight almost sinisterly amused smile going to his face as he raised his head to meet her gaze. "No one told me that the almighty Shihouin Yoruichi was in the neighborhood." A slight pause as he took in her complete lack of reaction, the smirk growing wider. "Pleased ta meet ya."

She did not dignify him with a reaction to his introduction. This was rubbish. Instead, her eyes narrowed dangerously, holding out a hand. "Pass it over." Her tone was cold and sharp. She did not want to waste her time talking to trash. It would be easier to get Senbonzakura first before engaging him in battle. Or at least, she hoped.

His smirk was now impossibly wide. "'Fraid that's a no can do, Shihouin-_dono_." He sing-songed her voice almost happily, looking very much like a demented freak, and even sounding like one. "It's not with me anymore, ya see?" At this, he waved his hands around merrily, even turning around to show her that it was not concealed on his person.

The next thing he knew, he found a hand at his throat, amber eyes barely centimeters away from his own, their noses almost touching. He smirked amusedly even though he had just realized that his hands were tied behind his back somehow and that he was in a very precarious position. Oho. So it wasn't too difficult to rankle those stuffy nobles, huh. He'd have to try this on the ultimate Ice-Block when he got the chance. Oh wait. The Ice-Block was now an Ice-Chip. Damn.

Her tone dropped one notch down on the scale of sheer intimidation and chill. "Where is it?" His eyes crinkled in a smile as he shook his head, shrugging. Since his windpipe was currently being restricted, he would rather not waste precious air on talking. And it was true. He had no idea where Katsushige was at the moment. Even though the katana was yes, definitely with Katsushige. He had seen the sly bastard sneak by and pick it up from the apple bin where the katana had been dropped.

Yoruichi's patience was growing thin. Oh yes, it was. It most definitely was. She was this close, this close to activating Shunkou. This person was being difficult on purpose, and if the bastard so much as twitched now… Oh, he could say goodbye to his extremities, or for that matter, his life. "Where is Senbonzakura," she hissed into his ear. "You know who has it," a short pause as she leant further in, reiatsu beginning to flood the area as a thread, "Don't you?"

His eyes widened slowly and exaggeratedly as though he was trying to pretend that he did not know. She lost her patience and slammed a fist into the side of his head. Goddamnit. What was it with these people that made her so angry? His smirk only widened as a tongue came out to lick the blood away from the side of his lips before he ducked under her hand and disappeared. Just disappeared.

The slight trace of faint reiatsu was now completely gone, and that was probably because the trace had been so faint that it was easy to conceal. Growling, Yoruichi scowled, leaping into her fastest Shunpo back to Sixth to calm her anger. It was no good getting angry. An ideal soldier was calm and collected, or at least, that was what the case was supposed to be, exemplified by a certain now chibi-fied Kuchiki Byakuya. It was all his fault, Yoruichi realized as she entered Seireitei. All his fault.

* * *

Byakuya woke up to a blur of pink very, very close to his face, and as he sat up suddenly, his head crashed into that pink blur, which seemed to have hair. Blinking rapidly, he backed away as he rubbed at his eyes. The world was now quite a bit clearer, and he saw Kusajishi-san mock-frowning and rubbing at her forehead. A disbelieving look came over his face as she immediately began to attempt to scold him for something that sounded like, "Why do you sit up so fast?"

It did not make sense to him, not at all. Was it his fault? How was it his fault? Was it not normal for a person to sit up suddenly when waking up? He was confused, and it was probably showing on his face, especially because he was never good at hiding his emotions to begin with, unlike O… unlike some of the other people he knew.

A few chuckles in the background caused him to jump. Or he would have jumped if he had been standing up. Instead, he merely started, eyes widening comically to take in the other people in the room. Or at least, the other person, if that could be called a person.

Impossibly tall and muscular, one dangerously glinting eye peered out from a scarred face, the other obscured by an eye-patch, a feral grin on his face as the person looked down at him much like the way a tiger would study its prey. The only difference was that tigers did not chuckle, and the monstrous being in front of him was chuckling.

"Yachiru," came a rumble, "Ya baka, it was yer fault that ya got banged. I told ya he doesn't look any different close up, but ya chose not ta listen. See what ya got?" His tone was gently chiding, though the monster looked amused at the same time. Somehow, Byakuya decided that he liked this guy. Something about him seemed nice and kind, although he looked like a mean machine.

Giving a hesitant smile, because he was rather uncertain as to how the big man would take it, Byakuya rather shyly introduced himself. Actually, it was not so much shy, but afraid, although both were quite similar, in any case. "Kuchiki Byakuya desu. Pleased to meet you."

Another chuckle. "I don't know about ya noble ways, so I won't be doin' no sissy introduction. I'm Zaraki Kenpachi, Captain of the Eleventh Division. Ya don't really like me, but that's fine."

Byakuya's eyes widened. He did not like this person? But he did not even know him? Blinking owlishly, his confused expression must have been interestingly funny, for even Yachiru joined in laughing, her tinkling laughter melding with the deep rumbling chuckle that was Zaraki's laugh.

"Aye. Ya not too fond of me, 'specially when ya were about this height," Zaraki gestured to his neck. "Though Yachiru says that ya don't remember nothin', and judgin' from ya reaction, ya might not remember at all. Looks like ya don't, eh?"

Byakuya blinked and nodded, eliciting yet another chuckle from Zaraki. "So, ya hungry, kid? Yachiru packs a punch, and being out for about half an hour might make ya hungry." He nodded again, and found himself being hoisted to his feet and thrown over a shoulder.

Grabbing on for dear life as Zaraki-san began moving, he wondered in between alternate bouts of amusement and horror, who in the world had invented this method of transportation? Looking to his left, he decided that it was probably Yachiru, judging from the way she was clinging on so naturally. He had the urge to hop right off, but he really was quite a distance above the ground. Eep.

* * *

The mess hall was every bit as noisy and chaotic as Byakuya had imagined it to be, seeing as Zaraki-san did not seem the type with an extremely disciplined Division, unlike what O…, what the other people he had known had.

The room turned instantaneously silent as Zaraki-taicho entered, with a giggling lieutenant and a horrified kid on his shoulders. Half the room gaped at the kid who was gaping back, and the other half tried not to look interested, only to fail very, very miserably. Byakuya squirmed rather uncomfortably, not at all used to so much purely inquisitive attention. Trying to somehow hide himself behind Zaraki-san's shoulder to avoid their gazes, he ducked a little, only to lose his grip and start half-sliding half-falling to the ground, which had previously seemed so far away. Eek. This was bad. He knew it was going to hurt, and squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could. If he did not see it, then maybe it would not be so painful.

A pair of hands grabbed hold of his collar, yanking him upwards. Byakuya belatedly noticed that the yukata he was wearing actually fit, and was a very interesting shade of blue, though how it had come about, he had no idea. His eyes following the hands back to the wrists, the elbows, the shoulder, neck, and then the face, he came face to face with yet another person he had never seen before.

"Your head's shiny!" He blurted out, before he could stop himself, face rapidly paling. Oh no! Why oh why had he said that? This was bad. He was in trouble. What was this person going to do? Was he going to drop him? Byakuya watched the changing expressions on the person's face. The first was confusion, the second was outright indignation. Third was mild annoyance, and the last emotion to linger on his face was that of amusement as suddenly, the whole mess hall rang with laughter. Had what he had said really been that funny? Byakuya was confused.

* * *

"Eh? Who's this little guy?" Ikkaku lifted the kid a little higher to his eye height. He had never seen such a queer kid before, not even in Rukongai. There was a certain way that even though he was being held like a little puppy, there was a semi-dignified air around him. That and he had blurted out a question about Ikkaku's lack of hair in a way that was most unusual. Most merely commented about the lack of hair, and not the shininess of the scalp. And that did not make sense at all. Looking up quizzically at Taicho and Yachiru, Ikkaku raised an eyebrow.

Yumichika who had entered the room at the same time, on the other hand, was simpering and cooing at the kid, who was starting to look very, very disturbed and disgusted, swiping at Yumi's hands with his own, a scowl forming on his face. That disapproving air… Now, where had Ikkaku last seen something like this? Ah, screw that. He could not quite remember. Placing the little kid down on the nearest table, which just so happened to be Taicho's dinner table, Ikkaku cast another inquisitive glance at Yachiru who was giggling happily.

"Madarame Ikkaku, Third Seat of the Eleventh Division." Ikkaku cast a glance over to the kid. "Pleased ta meet ya. Ya gotta be somethin' special if Yachiru likes ya, no?"

The kid was busy trying to back away from Yumi, and somehow succeeding, though he looked traumatized, severely traumatized, from the encounter. Looking up in surprise and quite a bit of apprehension, the grey eyes of the kid met his uncertainly, although he introduced himself with a rather dignified, almost regal air. "Kuchiki Byakuya desu. Likewise."

Ikkaku blinked, not even choking on his sake like Yumi had just done a seat away. Blinking again, he took a closer look at the kid. First things first, what the hell? Kuchiki was this thin? Secondly, what the hell? Kuchiki was this short? Thirdly, what the hell? Kuchiki was this little?

And why the hell was Kuchiki here?

* * *

"Hang on, hang on, hang on." Ikkaku raised his hands to pause the tirade that was Yachiru. "Lemme get this straight, ya?" He pointed at Yachiru, "Ya say that ya went to 'bother Byakushi' because taicho and I were sleeping, and then ya say ya found a kid in the office, and also… Renji? And that Midget-chan person. Whoever. Whatever. S'not important. Then ya went off to play tag. With Kuchiki-taicho. In Rukongai."

"He's not that Byakushi. He's a different Byakushi. This is little Byakushi, and then there's big Byakushi."

"Never mind." Ikkaku rolled his eyes before turning to what he assumed was now Kuchiki-taicho's new form, the little kid cowering behind Zaraki-taicho, trying to hide from Yumi's cooing and incessant attempts at pampering. Yeah, Yumi would probably get away with it if the kid was a baby, but the kid seemed to be well, not a baby. So yeah. The kid was currently hiding away behind taicho, who seemed very, very amused, and Yumi was not getting anywhere.

Hm… Interesting. Ikkaku wondered vaguely if kid Kuchiki could fight as well as adult Kuchiki, and if he could, that would be abso-freaking-lutely marvelous. They could have a spar right here right now!

Hang on. Kid Kuchiki didn't seem to have his effeminate and rather wimpy (in Ikkaku's opinion) zanpakuto with him.

No fights today then. Goddamnit.

* * *

"You know, Jyuu, I think we should go check out the Eleventh."

"Hm?"

"Well, seeing as we've more or less already combed most of Seireitei except for the Eleventh Division, and seeing as surely, Yachiru-chan would be smart enough to _not_ go to Rukongai, he's got to be there. They're probably playing tag within the Division. Hopefully he's still in one piece. But that's not very likely, is it? They are after all, a rather violent bunch."

"Or he could just be having lunch with them, and could be perfectly safe."

"Good point."

* * *

"Your orders, sir?"

"Begin."

"At once, sir."

The slight shimmer of shunpo lingered in the air.

* * *

Apologies for the delay. Here you go! It's a tad filler-ish, but well, at least stuff is starting to happen. XD.

Cheers,  
Tan


	19. Tic Toc, Tic Toc

Byakuya eased himself out of the room. It was not difficult at all, the people were still discussing things that they did not want him to hear anyway. They had left him alone in the room with Kusajishi-san, who had promptly zoomed off somewhere else once the big man, no, Zaraki-san had left the room. She had said something about hunting for candy.

Something was going on, that much he knew. Byakuya sat on the railings of the porch, swinging his legs to and fro. Otou-sama frowned on such behavior, but it was surprisingly comfortable. And the wind was nice today…

No. No. He should not be thinking of those things. He needed to think of a way to go back. There was something wrong with him, because it seemed that he was somehow in the future, and that did not make any sense at all. Everyone he had met so far seemed to be confused and worried and they did not want to tell him anything, but that made even less sense. If it was about him, then why not tell him?

He frowned slightly, looking up at the clouds. It would be nice if he could get so high up. That way, he would be able to see everything and hear everything and then he would know everything and there would be nothing he would not know, and then somehow he could go back.

He missed Okaa-san, and somehow, Otou-sama and everyone else too. The people here were nice, but he wanted to go back. He wanted to go back, because he did not know anything here, and it did not make sense. And he knew that if he went back, he would be able to see Okaa-san and Otou-sama again! He would definitely be able to see them, and they would definitely not be dead, and this would just all be a very, very bad dream.

But how? How could he go back? He did not even know how he had come here in the first place. If he did not know how he had arrived, then how could he leave? And there was still the problem of that person who said she was his sister. This was ridiculous! He did not have a sister, much less an older sister. Otou-sama would never have done anything like that.

What to do now? He could sit around and wait for the people to come looking for him, but then they would just tell him to sit around and behave himself while they went around and checked things out, and he was sick and tired of sitting around and behaving himself because that was boring.

Or he could go out and look for information by himself. He could go out there find out what was going on, and then, if he needed their help, then he would ask them, but only if he really needed their help. They had all been really nice, Akon-san, Ukitake-san, Ise-san, Kyouraku-san, Shihouin-dono, Abarai-san, Zaraki-san, Kusajishi-san, Madarame-san, Ayasegawa-san and even that imposter person had been quite nice.

But he did not need niceties. Everyone was nice to him back at home so he did not need more of that. And even then, some were fake back home, but he could not quite tell who was fake and who was not, because although he knew that some were fake, they were never careless to show it in front of him, not after that one time with… he couldn't even remember that person's name. But it hadn't been his fault. How was he supposed to know that you weren't supposed to take the shiny coins from the bag and put them in your own pocket?

Some of the servants had looked at him queerly, almost angrily after that, and he did not really know why. Maybe those shiny coins were important? He had always seen people carry the coins around during functions, but they never really used them, so he could not quite see how they were important. Of course, there were the commoner coins which he had seen Kyouraku-san pay for lunch with, but those were different. Commoner coins were money, and money was dull brown or occasionally slightly shiny silver, not like those that he had seen lying around the house. Those were definitely different. But no one ever told him anything, so how would they expect him to know anything?

Frowning, he chewed on his lower lip. Maybe he really should go out and look for information. Otou-sama had always said that when he was unclear of something, and it was not an important function, then it was wisest to ask the advisors, and if they were not available, then Okaa-san or any other non-servant adult. The way Otou-sama said it made it sound like all the servants were stupid, but they actually seemed quite smart to him.

Approaching Yamamoto-soutaicho would not be quite appropriate, he did not know many other captains, and since he was in the future, it would probably be different now. Maybe he could go looking for Kyouraku-san or… no. He would just be told to sit still, remain in one place and keep quiet as they all went around investigating.

He hopped off the railing, frowning slightly as he walked down the corridors. Maybe if he walked around enough, he would be able to find someone he recognized, and maybe they would tell him something. But he would also need to be careful, because there were the bad people out looking for him, and Zaraki-san would probably also come looking for him after a while because they wanted him to stay still, but he did not want to. Staying still was boring and there was no way he was going to find out anything.

The corridors seemed impossibly wide, and he quickly decided that he would be better to walk right next to the wall. It made him stand out less.

It was in this manner that Kuchiki Byakuya managed to walk past both the Tenth and the Ninth Divisions unseen.

Shuffling past shinigami who merely smiled at him, his little tabi-clad feet pattered along the stone floor as he trotted off in the general direction of the Sixth Division. He would probably find more information there, because it was, after all, the traditional Kuchiki-held office.

This was slow. He still remembered how the wind blew in his hair and the world rushed past when he did that running thing that he had used to chase after Kusajishi-san. It had been fun, incredibly fun, and he could still feel the excitement from accomplishing something like this, something that Shihouin-sensei had not yet taught him. Perhaps he could try it now. It might work. And if he got fast enough, then people wouldn't be able to see him.

Yeah. That would work. He cast a glance to his left, and another to his right. There was no one around. A shy smile came to his face, gradually broadening out into a grin. He kicked himself into a… was this shunpo? Perhaps.

The wind whipped his hair into streaks of flying black; the thrill of flying around structures, over walls, around corners, into doors, leaping around with no fear of reprisal, this was something that he somehow missed. Freedom. He had never had the chance to do exactly what he wanted before, and now that he was doing this, he was absolutely thrilled.

Thrilled, and a little scared. It was scary, relinquishing grasp on comfortable territory, and taking a step out into the unknown, knowing that there was no one looking out for him. But it felt good, and he thrust the doubts down, just enjoying the feel of the air in his face, the ground beneath his feet, and the silence interrupted barely by his light foot steps. This was fantastic.

* * *

It was not everyday that Zaraki Kenpachi got this excited. Hell no. Even Ikkaku, who was not the best at reading moods of people, could tell. The Captain was excited. He was very, very excited for some reason or another.

Or rather, the two reasons were now standing opposite Zaraki, the pink-clad one looking amused and the white-haired one raising an unimpressed and slightly exasperated eyebrow. No one had drawn their zanpakutos yet, but that didn't mean the Captain would keep his reiatsu under control.

Oh no. On the contrary, the Captain's reiatsu was ballooning madly, half the division had already scarpered and was cowering somewhere else, the other half doing a very good job of being passed out. Yumi was having a slightly hard time standing straight and not shaking. He himself was feeling the pressure, and even Yachiru was wobbling just very, very slightly.

It was not only because of Captain Zaraki. The other two captains in the courtyard were not reigning in their reiatsu like they normally did. Ikkaku was starting to see exactly why Captains Kyouraku and Ukitake were still Captains, seeing as they hardly seemed to do anything other than drink and fall ill respectively.

Bloody hell, the three reiatsus… No. Only two. Kyouraku wasn't releasing at all, not seriously! Incredible! This was just Ukitake and Captain Zaraki? This was getting serious, and both men showed now signs of stopping. Captain Zaraki's reiatsu was a terrifying shocking yellow, Captain Ukitake's a calm but suffocating electric blue.

Both Captains were not even breathing harder than before, and Kyouraku had even reclined on a chair he had somehow found somewhere and was busy emitting some surprisingly warm russet brown reiatsu. [Ikkaku had always assumed that he would be pink, just like Yachiru, but perhaps Captain Kyouraku was a little manlier than he had previously assumed. Just perhaps. It was possible, after all.]

None of them showed any signs of stopping, and Ikkaku started getting a little worried. Not for himself, mind you, but for Yumi. [He would never admit it though. Yumi would just add a couple more scratches to his face with Fujikujaku the next time they sparred.] The other man was shaking quite a bit now, and his breaths were coming a little more raggedly. The pressure was getting quite severe now, and even Yachiru was sitting on the floor, and releasing a little of that normally tightly kept pink reiatsu to aid with breathing.

And the two captains… Ikkaku winced as there was a loud clash of metal. And blinked when he saw that now it was Ukitake sitting down on that chair, and Kyouraku who was fighting.

Heyy. That was cheating. They were tag-teaming Captain Zaraki! That was so unfair! If Ikkaku had been feeling particularly stupid at that point in time, he would have leapt in to help the Captain. As it was, Madarame Ikkaku treasured his head, and treasured his life [and balls] a lot more than he did the 'justice' which he perceived was being defied by Captain Zaraki being tag-teamed.

But then again, this was the same person who had demanded that Tousen, Komamura, Hisagi and Iba all jump him at once. [Although Kyouraku and Ukitake were on what seemed to be a different level, but that was beside the point.] So yeah, Captain Zaraki was probably enjoying this.

Hang on a minute. Ikkaku rubbed his eyes now that no one was exerting their reiatsu so widely and wildly. [Now that he was able to, at least.]

Wait. Ukitake was sitting down and Kyouraku… Kyouraku was the only one fighting Captain Zaraki! It was a fair fight, alright. Sure, maybe not quite as even as it seemed, but still a fair fight, because Captain Zaraki was swinging that nameless zanpakuto of his around like he was really, seriously trying to kill Kyouraku.

The other captain had been trying to just dodge, that much Ikkaku could tell, but really, there was a limit to how much one could dodge against Captain Zaraki. Now, Kyouraku had drawn his wakizashi, and the two of them were dashing up and down the courtyard, not quite shunpo, but not quite ordinary footwork either.

There was no blood. Yet. Much to Ikkaku's annoyance, it seemed like the one who was a little more relaxed than the other was Kyouraku. [Then again, Captain Zaraki was never relaxed in a fight. He was always either bored or excited, that bloodthirsty grin coming to his face meaning the latter.]

"You're really trying to kill me, Kenpachi?" Kyouraku ducked his head under a particularly wild swing, an arm coming out to block the savage kick struck his way, before returning it with one of his own, skidding backwards as he did so.

"Of course! It wouldn't be fun if I didn't do that, eh?" With a chuckle, Zaraki shot forward, blade raised for a downward slice, succeeding in catching only the edge of Kyouraku's hat, before the other man turned away and his wakizashi tore a particularly nasty one down from Zaraki's right shoulder to his stomach.

"Then I won't hold back anymore!" Ikkaku's breath caught when Captain Zaraki nearly got decapitated by a swing from Kyouraku. Impossible! How… How did he swing with that blade in that arm from that angle? Ikkaku frowned as he took a closer look. He would have missed witnessing what had happened if he had blinked.

He did not blink, and instead caught Kyouraku doing what he had never expected to see anyone do. The wakizashi zipped from right hand to left as he brought it down once more from what seemed to be an impossible angle before switching it back. Zaraki burst out laughing, a maniacal but yet happy laugh.

"Yer not bad, eh?" Kyouraku merely smiled that enigmatic, frightening grin of his before going in for another attack, one which Zaraki had to dodge. He raised the wakizashi, attacking swiftly and slamming hard down on the nameless zanpakuto. Zaraki parried it, revealing an opening.

Kyouraku lunged in for the kill.

Ikkaku held his breath, and even Yachiru looked slightly shocked.

Then Kyouraku crumpled to the floor clutching his head, looking sheepish as can be.

Ise Nanao towered over the two men, eyes flashing dangerously, infamous book clutched in hand.

Ukitake looked sufficiently chastised from behind her, and as such, was of no current use.

Ikkaku winced as she unleashed hell upon the poor not-so-unsuspecting Captain Kyouraku.

Ouch. That had got to hurt.

* * *

SORRY! I apologize for the mega wait I put you all through, but here's the latest chapter. You all can treat it as my New Year's present.

And yep, I'm back. :)

Cheers,  
Tan


	20. To Handle A Situation

It was a perfectly ordinary day in the life of Kuchiki Tokaku. The seneschal of the Kuchiki Estate, prim and proper and never looking a year older than he had fifty years back, strode purposefully down the corridor towards the room where the Council of Elders was holding their meeting.

Why they had summoned him could be for no other reason than that they wished to inquire about the young master. (Byakuya-sama was by all rights the Master and not the Young Master anymore, but well, to the older folk, he would always be young.)

Tokaku was not as all-knowing as he sometimes seemed to be, and much less all-knowing than he hoped to be, but that mattered little when dealing the Elders, all of whom at least twice his age and thrice as thick-skinned.

He just needed to appear superior and behave likewise.

(Piece of cake for a Kuchiki.)

He slid the door open with an almost cat-like grace, dipping into a short bow before taking his seat.

And promptly be fired at by the nearest Elder.

"What is this insolence, Tokaku-dono? Byakuya-sama has been missing for an entire day, I am appalled that you have yet to make a move."

His eyes narrowed as he cast a disapproving glance at a man two times his senior, a feat which for any other man of any other pedigree would have been daunting. But a Kuchiki always kept his calm and knew his place. (Something that the Young Master often took a little more seriously than he needed to.)

"You forget your place, Enshou-dono. The Young Master is the Head of the Kuchiki Clan, and is not required to report his every action back to the Council of Elders, merely keep you informed of his whereabouts."

"But he has not. With all due respect, Byakuya-sama has not yet written of anything, and all attempts to communicate with him and his office have not returned any tangible results."

"Perhaps you misunderstood me, Kazuhiro-dono. The Young Master does not need to be babied. He can handle himself well enough for that, and even so, it is not my place to baby him, as Ginrei-dono always said. That is my final word."

Tokaku slid the door shut, cutting off the looks of sheer outrage from the Elders. (How dare he bring up the deceased in an argument?)

Maybe he would go check on the Young Master, if not just for the fact that he could spite the Elders with knowledge they lacked.

Just another item to add to the daily agenda then.

* * *

"Mmpf!" His eyes widened as he felt hands whip around his neck from behind, securing a cloth gag in place before settling onto his neck. There was something cold there too, and he would have turned to look if he had not found his eyes caught by a pair of steely ones.

"Yo. Long time no see, eh, little biddy?" A sneer.

That man! Byakuya's eyes widened in horror as he came face to face with his captor. Many thoughts whirled through his head, but it did not occur to him to flee or to attempt to flee.

An almost-feral grin on his face, the man grinned down at him. "I nearly gotcha that time, you know, with that pretty katana? Didn't expect that idiot to interfere, but hey, what do you know, eh, Hideyoshi? The prey comes a wandering right into my hands!"

"Do you really want it that badly, Bya-kun? Hm? It really mean that much to you?"

The words appeared to strike a chord with the boy, and Katsushige watched as he tensed up again, struggling with wide frightened eyes against the much stronger grip of his captor.

"Kid. Don't squirm. I'll cut you." The boy stiffened and inwardly, Katsu hid a grin. After all that trouble, finally. Finally, everything was within his grasp. Finally, they could end all this nonsense and he could go back to doing what he did best. Taking up this case had been a mistake. So much work for comparably so little payment.

"Maa, don't taunt him in public so, Katsu…. If he faints or something, I ain't carrying him, man." The younger man of the two (or at least he seemed that way to Byakuya) smirked, hefting Senbonzakura above his head. "I'm already carrying the most precious bargaining chip here."

A third man appeared in something that was not quite shunpo, but something else that Byakuya did not recognize. "Hideyoshi, Akiyama, Itakura-dono has been waiting."

"You tell him we've got his baggage and an extra piece to boot. We'll be right over, ne, Katsu?"

"Hn." The grin widened on Katsu's face as he lifted the boy off the ground and chucked him inside a basket a little more roughly than he needed to, slamming the basket cover on and ensuring that it was absolute darkness. He did not miss the look of absolute horror on the noble's face and smirked, satisfied.

That should break the little twerp's spirit for the short period of time before Itakura wanted to see him. He would be easier to deal with then.

* * *

"Captain Kyouraku," Nanao hissed as she dragged the recalcitrant away from the battlefield. After all, scolding her superior in front of other people was generally not a good idea so a little privacy was preferred. Ignoring Madarame Ikkaku's obvious attempts at looking and appearing not to be looking, she continued, lowering her voice to her best, coldest voice.

"Exactly what do you think you are doing, sir?" Not giving him a chance to butt in, she swiftly followed with, "No, do not even begin to say something like you were just having a _friendly spar_ with Captain Zaraki. That is an unacceptable answer."

Seeing the Captain open his mouth and actually attempt to say something, Nanao's eyes flashed dangerously. "In case you were unaware, Captain, we were currently attempting to do some form of work. In case it slipped your mind, Captain, we were in the process of attempting to locate one pint-sized Kuchiki Byakuya who is currently missing."

"I allocated you and Captain Ukitake to the Eleventh Division because as Captains, I expected you two to naturally be able to actually talk to Captain Zaraki like civilized, peaceful, normal people. It would appear I was wrong, Captain." She sighed, and Shunsui cringed slightly like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Are you truly this incompetent, Captain? Or is your brain just so incredibly sake-addled such that you cannot think anymore? What are you priorities at this moment?" She finished her chastisement before looking, in Shunsui's opinion, rather appropriately uncomfortable.

He would admit that while most of the accusations were actually completely accurate, there were perhaps one or two that were a little over the line. That parting shot of hers had been downright low. Had he been anyone else, he would have been outraged. But being the nice forgiving person that he was, he was going to overlook the short-comings of his darling Nanao-chan. She was probably just as, if not more, worried about the little kid than he was.

(Although really, Shunsui personally thought that the kid probably got bored of their boring adult company and decided to run off for some fresh air, going off to play with Yachiru. Personally, he didn't see the problem. Zaraki didn't bite little kids, as much as he liked to attempt to kill their temporary guardians.)

"Maa, Nanao-chan," he grinned, noticing her discomfort at him using that term, but not daring to speak up, "Jyuu-kun and I came here looking for Captain Zaraki, but I think we forgot to put a _little _dampener on our reiatsu, because we thought that the little kid might find us through that." (Which was an absolute lie, but seeing as Nanao-chan had quite a lot of faith in her captain and his strangely impressive deductive prowess, he was going to take advantage of that faith as much as he could to get out of trouble.)

"We accidentally knocked out one of his lowest seats, and the man himself came rushing out." Mentally willing Jyuushiro to collude with him, Shunsui continued, "So seeing as he didn't look like he was going to tell us anything without a fight, we decided to fight him. Besides, centuries of sparring with only Jyuu-chan isn't as fun as sparring with someone else who's really out to get you, you know? I swear, Captain Zaraki was really trying to kill me."

Yes, real slick, Shunsui, leave out the part which says that you were really trying to kill him too, or else your darling lieutenant will quickly get over her embarrassment and skewer you with that delightful rarely-seen zanpakuto of hers. He could see Jyuu-kun's slightly disapproving expression, but he quickly moved on.

Shunsui grinned charmingly at his lieutenant. "I'll sidle over and ask him about the little kid right now, mm? Take a deep breath and relax. You stress yourself out too much, Nanao-chan." Shunsui winked before gliding off back towards Captain Zaraki much like a grinning pink bat would.

Leaving poor Jyuushiro to the mercy of Nanao-chan. Ah well, sacrifices had to be made in battle.

* * *

"You're looking for the kid?" Zaraki raised an amused eyebrow. (The only visible one that was not hidden behind that eyepatch of his, that was.) He turned to Yumichika, sitting to his right. "Oi, Yumi. Go get the kid. He should be in the back. Was sitting on the porch or something, swinging his little legs around."

The surprisingly shrewd Captain turned back to his fellow Captains. "So, Kyouraku, mind telling me what this is all about? Yachiru just picked this kid up when she went visiting, and he didn't really tell her much, she didn't tell me much." He waited till Yachiru went tottering out the door after Yumi, as she was wont to do. "What happened? Why you guys suddenly so tense? I could feel it in the air."

He swept his glance over Lieutenant Ise, silently approving but ignoring her as an unimportant person for the moment, focusing his attention more or less solely on the two Captains. "It didn't really feel like battle, because it felt different through our fight. You're worried about something?"

Yoruichi slunk into the room, sitting down gracefully and ignoring the pointed looks sent her way by both Ikkaku and Nanao. "I don't really want to tell you this, because it doesn't seem to involve you at all, but I don't think you'll let it go if we just told you that, right?"

Zaraki's trademark feral grin appeared, but instead of tensing up, he leant back, eyes silently requesting for more information. (Nanao immediately got a little more respect for the man. Having had little contact with the Captain of the Eleventh Division, and having always had certain misconceptions, it would now appear that he was quite a bit smarter than he appeared.)

"There's something going on that we can't quite place. To tell the truth, it's a very Clan thing." She sighed, looking not only at Zaraki, but also at Kyouraku, Ukitake and Ise. If they were smart enough, they would realize that this was new information she had not yet shared with them, and would thus play along.

"Bya-kun's always been a nice ripe target for anyone who wants to rocket to instant stardom in practically every area, just that he had always been pretty damn untouchable to the ordinary person, heck, even the ordinary noble. So we never really bothered, we'd always ignored all those whispers of crap and dismissed them as unimportant."

"But now that he got shrunk by a combination of Kurotsuchi's insanity and his own ill-discipline, it seems that some group has popped out of the woodwork. They 'visited' him once already, and they even went so far as to grab Senbonzakura. I confirmed that with my own eyes. Kurotsuchi had it, but it was stolen from him."

"There's a group behind all this, and I'm afraid it all boils down to Clan politics again, because frankly, there's nothing much behind Bya-kun, or that he possesses of his own volition other than his Clan name. That's pretty sad but true. Someone out there wants something of the Kuchiki Clan, and they're not afraid to hold the zanpakuto of the Clan Head hostage, even though that is tantamount to directly threatening the power of the Clan Head."

"Here's the main problem. Bya-kun is in no position to defend himself, or even make any decisions of any sort. Hell, I bet he can't even sign his own adult signature properly. But because hostage takers are, in general, pretty desperate, they would have no qualms with forcing him to do it, thinking that he was defying them on purpose. So we would like to secure his whereabouts, and then act as his ambassadors."

A cheeky grin came to her face. "I dare say that a Kyouraku and a Shihouin are more than enough to handle even the most uptight of noble bastards."

The statement of "Unless such uptight a noble bastard happened to be a Kuchiki" went unmentioned.

* * *

The world was shaking.

The world was shaking and thumping and he couldn't hear anything at all.

He couldn't see anything either.

The world was just shaking and thumping and moving.

And he was afraid.

He really was.

* * *

Author Note: Perhaps I haven't really made this very clear, and this is also partly my fault. Byakuya's age is hovering somewhere between... let's say the human equivalent of 5-7. I might have been a little vague about this, but the idea is that he isn't really old enough to completely understand what is going on, but at the same time, not completely clueless either.

Anyways, just wanted to apologize for the extended absence and say that I'll probably be absent for a while more yet. Got major exams coming up soon, so do bear with me! Another month and a few weeks and it'll all be over. :)

Cheers,  
Tan


	21. Me, Myself and You

Movies from the real world lied, Kuchiki Rukia discovered.

Ransom letters were not always scribbled or scrawled in terrible handwriting, nor were they cut out from bits of magazine or newspaper.

In fact, the one she held right in front of her, passed to her by a rather distraught Kiyone and an anxious Sentarou, was printed almost primly.

It was only the five symbols scrawled on the second piece of paper, with a dribble of what did-not-look-like-ink-but-was-red that were untidy and almost child-like.

* * *

The world was navy blue, much like the sky at night just around the clouds, because the clouds somehow lit up the sky and although no one really believed him, they did.

It was navy blue like how if you washed out ink and just closed your eyes and imagined, you would see it.

It was navy blue like how the deepest darkest oceans were, where all was dark and not-stormy but not-quite-calm either.

But it was not quite completely navy blue either.

The edge, the edge where the land met the sky, he knew there was a word for it, but he couldn't really think of it at the moment.

The edge, it was some kind of grey.

It wasn't really grey. Not grey in the sense of grey, but some form of blue-grey, almost grey, but not quite. He couldn't quite explain it.

Maybe it was like how a blade would always be red-grey even though it was grey.

And was that even land? He couldn't tell. It looked like land, but it looked like water at the same time. Land-water? Water-land? It looked like a blend, like someone had somehow taken land and water and mixed it together in some sort of almost land but not quite and almost water but not quite.

If he stepped on it, would he fall in?

He leant forward, squatting down and dipping a finger into the not-quite-land-but-not-quite-water.

It felt… like air. It didn't feel like anything. Not that there wasn't anything, because there was, he could see the little ripples around his finger, and when he flicked his finger there were these little droplets of something.

But he could see them and he could not feel them. Rolling them between fingers did not help either, because it just didn't seem to be there. It was like he was passing through this…

It was like it was there and it was not.

It was like _he_ was there.

And then he was not.

It was something that confused him.

Was he not meant to be here?

_But it felt so right._

Was he not allowed to be here?

_But he was here._

Was he…

Where was he?

There was no answer as he stood up. (When had he been kneeling down?)

Raising his head in the manner in which he had always been taught, he took in his surroundings calmly and coolly.

But there was nothing, only an endless world of navy and grey, a small lake in front of him, and a long, narrow, thin path that stretched to something he could not see in the mist that had begun swirling the moment he opened his eyes.

He took a tentative step forward on the greyer-than-grey path, socks (socks? Why socks? Where had his sandals gone?) making not a sound as they gripped the cold, cold floor.

Next to him, _all around him_, the floor shook and trembled, rings of the not-quite water going outwards.

It scared him, the way everything all seemed to be coming from his feet, the shaking, the wobbling of everything around him but not him.

Then it split.

He couldn't quite see how, but somehow, somehow, this new world of navy and grey just split into thousands of tiny pieces.

They whirled and swirled around and he couldn't see anything anymore but the rush of the navy and grey and… red?

It was red, except that it wasn't really red anymore, but becoming lighter, to an almost white but red white.

It was like the sakura, he realized. Like the sakura that were just around the corner, and a little whiter than the plum trees outside his room.

The world was changing around him, and he reached out a hand to try and grab at the little not-pieces-but-petals.

But wherever he would grab at would move away, and there would be a hole where his hand was. When he jumped forward, it parted to the side. It was like jumping at a pile of leaves that could move themselves.

It was frustrating, he realized as he tried once more to grab at the flowing rushing flying petals.

He threw himself forward then, tired of grabbing at air and jumping.

A pair of hands grabbed him, and suddenly he was spinning with the petals but somehow not spinning at all.

"My, my. What do we have here?"

It was a voice! It was a voice! There was someone else here besides him!

The voice tut-tutted a little disapprovingly as Byakuya found himself being turned around and around and around by that pair of hands.

He turned his head this way and that, trying to find the source of the voice. It seemed to be coming from every which way, so finding where the voice was coming from was somewhat like trying to jump, hop and skip all at once.

"You've grown smaller, louder and happier since I last saw you."

The voice seemed almost amused as Byakuya found himself nudged and poked from a few sides. He squeaked indignantly as the fingers poked his ribs. He was ticklish there!

The voice chuckled, a low, warm sound that made him feel nice and comfortable. It reminded him of Otou-sama when Otou-sama was alone with Okaa-sama and him. He voiced this out loud and the voice chuckled again.

"I would think that you would at least recognize _me_ of all the people you've recently met, kid."

"You?"

"Yes, me. Your zanpakuto." The voice was deeply amused and the petals to his left parted a little, gathering in a bunch.

A man emerged from the petals, head held high the exact same way Otou-sama and the others did. His face was hidden from behind a mask with what looked like fangs, but somehow, Byakuya wasn't scared.

In fact, this person felt like he was someone that Byakuya really knew, although he did not remember anyone like that at all. He did the polite thing and bowed deeply the way he was supposed to with really important people.

The samurai laughed again, this time stooping a little lower and meeting Byakuya's eyes with his own dark brown ones that twinkled with warmth but were tempered with a certain degree of steel.

"You never really liked me the way some shinigami adore their zanpakuto, so you will pardon me if I find your behavior a tad strange," the samurai reached out a gloved hand to gently pat his head.

Byakuya blinked.

"There is no way you would ever permit me stand this close," the samurai said, straightening up and resuming that cold stance as he paced around the confused little boy.

"But there is no other who can possibly come in here, so you must be he. Yet…" His head tilted slightly and his hand pinched the bridge of his nose in pensive thought, "You are so unlike him that it simply cannot be."

"Me?" He looked up, confused. The samurai looked almost angry. What had he done? Why was he angry? Was it his fault?

"Speak, child. Who are you, and where is my rightful wielder, Kuchiki Byakuya?"

* * *

"Now you've done it, Katsu." The shorter man groaned. "Itakura-sama is going to be very displeased that you've somehow knocked the kid around enough in a basket that he's out cold."

"Hey, s'not my fault the little noble can't stand a few knocks. I didn't even whack him anywhere!"

"But he's going to have to blame someone for the damaged good, and there's only one person to blame. You. That means you can kiss goodbye to the bonus, dude."

"Aw, hell. And here I thought I could finally quit this thing entirely and live off the riches together with my friends, like say… you, and maybe that Natsuki from Eight for the rest of my life…"

"Real funny, Katsu. Real funny. But I don't care. I'm still telling on you 'cos I'll get a bigger share that way."

"You suck."

"No, _you_ whacked the kid's head against the side of the basket, so _you_ suck."

* * *

He stared back at the samurai in silence. Nothing he had said had convinced the samurai, and he felt like the more he said the queerer it all sounded. It sounded queer to him, after all, so it would naturally sound queer to the samurai as well.

A short silence.

"I do not see what you are attempting to get at, child. You are obviously not him, and yet why do you try so hard?"

"But I am! I really am! My name _is_ Kuchiki Byakuya!" He could tell that the samurai was displeased, and knew that his words didn't seem to be working

"That is not helping your argument. Everything you have told me about yourself is common knowledge that anyone can pick off the streets, and when questioned about the finer points, you are unable to reply. You are unable to even sign your own signature, to carry yourself the way my wielder does."

"B-But I…"

"You are not him. Do not even attempt or pretend to be."

"I…"

"Leave."

The next thing he knew was blackness.

_(The samurai looked almost hurt, though he couldn't tell why.)_

* * *

Sorry for the wait.

Tan_  
_


	22. Help Me, Please

"Awake, Byakuya-kun?" A face was mere inches away from his. "Yes, it would appear that he his awake, Katsushige. You should count your lucky stars that he is unharmed."

Byakuya blinked as the world swam into blurry view. It was a rather dark place, much like the basements of the rooms in Kuchiki manor. They kept food in places like this. And books. And scrolls. And weapons. He had seen them once.

This room, however, was a little larger than any other such rooms he had seen before. Torches lit the walls with flickering, almost warm flames. The wooden floor was strangely cool to the touch.

He slowly got up, looking around him. He remembered where he had been. That basket had been so nastily small and cramped, and they had travelled for so long that he did not know how far they had gone. He had been…what was the word? Kidnapped, yes. He had been kidnapped.

And there was a crazy person standing in front of him.

"I am fond of proud people," the man smiled almost indulgently though it did not reach his eyes. Byakuya felt a shiver run up his spine at that. Otou-sama had always said that people liked to lie, and the best way to check was to look at their eyes, and if so, then this person was lying.

"But you know, child," the person, dressed not as richly as Otou-sama had been but still preserving a nice clean image, rose and took a step forward off his zabuton. "I…"

"Itakura-sama! It is unsafe!" A voice shot out from the side. It was one of the men in the dark clothing who had taken him away. Byakuya did not like those people. He really, really did not like those people. It showed on his face.

Something changed about this Itakura person, Byakuya noticed. He stiffened and seemed colder all of a sudden. "What are you taking me for, Katsushige? Am I such an incompetent fighter that I would let a…a…kid harm me?"

Byakuya didn't see the foot coming until it connected with his shoulder and sent him tumbling backwards. He supposed that he was supposed to be afraid and curl up into a little ball, but by now, he was tired and hungry and more than just a little upset. Getting to his feet, his hands bunched into fists at his side as he glared up at the much taller man.

"Come now, Byakuya-kun, play nice," the smile on the person's face somehow changed. It wasn't even slightly indulgent, now almost…almost…sinister. A chuckle. "My, what a mouthful your name is. But anyway, where was I before I was so rudely interrupted?"

"On the topic of proud people, Itakura-sama." The other man in the dark clothing spoke up, shooting his similarly clad companion a smug look.

"So I was, Hideyoshi. So I was." The smile was still there. It was not quite creepy, just evil. It seemed to promise bad things such as another kick to his ribs. "I was saying, Byakuya-kun, that I am fond of proud people."

"And I am immensely fond of you, you know?" A look of confusion came to Byakuya's face before he saw Itakura's predatory look.

Hideyoshi raised a covered eyebrow. Gee, use such big words around a little kid who probably only vaguely understood them will you? What a waste of threats these were, he personally felt. Oh well. He got paid. He learnt a new skill. That was all he needed. Never mind that Itakura-sama wasn't the ideal evil mastermind.

"I love crushing proud people to see the way they fall and crack and break at my feet. I like to take away the things they hold most dear and watch them crumble. Simply delicious." He smirked as he took another step forward and swung another kick. The boy raised his hands to block it, but ended up on the floor again and an added split lip for his troubles.

"So what do you want from me?" The boy's eyes hardened slightly as he backed away, hands still held protectively over his face.

Itakura laughed.

"You, my dear boy, I would especially love to crush." Itakura's glee was almost palpable, and Hideyoshi sighed from his position behind the statue. The boy, whatever his name was again, was starting to look less like a typical kid and instead more like one with a sharp tongue and the backbone to match.

Hideyoshi was right.

Byakuya couldn't bite the comment back in time before it left his mouth.

"You're crazy."

"No. Very much on the contrary, as a matter of fact. And might I add, I am feeling very sane indeed."

"But there's nothing that I could possibly give you." He backed away again,

"There isn't? Oh, are you sure about that?" Itakura looked like someone had just told a very funny joke, and to him, the boy probably had. (Hideyoshi would swear that the boy looked a year older than when he had come in, but never mind that. People did not age suddenly when placed into threatening situations, did they?)

An almost invisible tremor ran through the boy. It piqued Hideyoshi's interest. He always liked knowing secrets, after all, he was a naturally (unnaturally) curious soul. So there was something that the boy was hiding, was there?

"There's nothing." He raised his head defiantly, meeting the amused gaze of that crazy man. There really was nothing he had that he could give. Not in this time at least. Otou-sama and Okaa-sama were not around. He bit back a small choked sob at the memories of his parents that floated to his mind. Someone would come and save him before this crazy man did anything. Someone would. Or he would save himself and get out of there. Somehow, he would get out of this place.

"You bet there is!" Itakura snarled as he advanced on the boy swiftly, and when the latter guarded against the punch thrown at his face, the kick to his midsection got him.

Hideyoshi resisted the urge to whack himself in the face. God, kid. Fighting 101. Always prepare for more than one blow. Heard of it?

"Everything! Everything you have had and will ever have!" Itakura took a step back, eyes whirling with fury as the boy slowly straightened up and wiped at the corner of his mouth.

"I will crush you, and I will take everything that was yours, is yours, and will ever be yours! I will take the prestige of the Kuchiki Clan onto my hands, I will remove you and all those who stand in my way! I will wrestle your Captain position from you, and I will stand tall and everyone will respect me!"

Hideyoshi resisted the urge, once more, to whack himself in the face. God. Could he have signed up to earn money from a stupider man?

Itakura calmed down quickly, "Or that would be what you would expect me to say." There was hope yet! Hideyoshi's heart lifted slightly.

"But I don't really want to crush you. I don't really want all of that nonsense crap you take upon yourself. I'm not stupid enough to think that I'll be able to escape unscathed if I aim so very high."

"I'm going to take what I want, a little at a time. I'm going to squeeze you and your family dry of whatever it is that I want or fancy." His face came closer and Byakuya's hands clenched into fists.

"I have leverage, political leverage, and it helps that your family is no loving one. No one's going to come rushing in here to save you, Byakuya-kun."

He smiled at the momentarily stricken look on the boy's face.

He hated people with talent, he hated all those who could just take the easy way out, not do a single hour's worth of honest work and yet still climb so high.

He hated people who looked down on other people even when they were trying their hardest to get places.

He hated people who were just born with everything, who did not need to work at all and their life would arrange itself in front of their faces.

He hated people who were destined to be leaders, who were going to step up and take charge, and who everyone would love and adore.

He hated people like that, and Kuchiki Byakuya fulfilled every single one of these criteria.

God, how he hated the man that boy had become.

"No one cares for you, you know?" He smiled to himself for being brilliant enough to realize that whilst the noble lifestyle was unspeakably lavish and extravagant, noble children rarely experienced love.

The boy's eyes narrowed, though said eyes were now slightly doubtful and clouded with confusion.

"No one cares. Not those fake smiles and fake greetings you get from the servants, from the staff, from your subordinates. Secretly, deep down, they hate you."

He took a step forward. "They're all around you, using you, because you're taking up a certain rank, a certain position out there that they, who are countless times more capable than you are, cannot fill because you are there. They can't stand you. They can't stand your personality, you who think you're better than all of them, all of the time."

"You are a pain, a thorn in their sides and I'm sure many others would leap at the chance to have you here, like that, at their mercy. You, who rose to your position by sheer family background, have nothing to back that up with. Heck, even your clan doesn't like you. You have shamed them; you have brought trouble to their doorsteps."

Byakuya shook his head. No. No. Impossible. He was not that kind of person. He could not have grown up to be like that.

"It is no surprise that they will do anything I will tell them to, because while they do not care, they want to secure their heir. That is all you are to them. You are the heir and so they will pay for your return. But will they do anything else? Will they risk their lives to come and get you? No, they will not."

"You mean nothing, you are nothing and there is no one who is going to save you. Look. I can do anything I want to you, and no one will stop me. No one will care."

"You're lying. You're lying. You're lying."

"No," his lips curled, "I'm not. You are deceiving yourself, darling boy. You are not as important as you like to think you are."

There was silence for a short moment as the boy trembled, whether out of fear or something else, Itakura could not tell.

"I hate you," Byakuya spat.

"By all means, Kuchiki-kun. By all means go ahead. But it's not going to stop me from doing this." A blade arced out and a cut appeared on Byakuya's upper arm as it tore a cry from his throat. It was not deep, but neither was it shallow. (Hideyoshi personally thought that such displays of blood were distasteful, but he did not control his own paycheck and thus remained tactfully silent.)

Byakuya stumbled backwards, right hand clutching his arm, eyes flashing in anger and pain. "Write," hissed Itakura. "Write anything here, in this space. Your darling clan will need to know you're still alive."

A smirk.

It didn't burn quite as much as he expected it to, though the moment he was jostled into position in front of the paper, the wound seemingly burnt. Wincing as he was nudged again, he looked expectantly around for a brush and ink.

"Is my pampered little prince looking for calligraphy brushes and high-class ink?" There was breath right next to his ear and Byakuya fought the urge to flinch, instead gritting his teeth, forcibly calming himself down and turning slowly.

"Your blood, Byakuya-kun. Use your blood and your finger."

He bit back the sharp retort, well aware of who held the sharp objects in this room. He didn't like this situation, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Nothing except…

This was something that Otou-sama had told him to never do - show weakness, but he was at the end of his rope.

And he wanted to cry.

援けてくれ

Help me.


End file.
